Following the Coalition’s loss in the 21 May federal election, new Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton has announced the coalition’s front bench, including the shadow defence roles.

With the unopposed election of Dutton to the Liberal leadership role, the National party also replaced former leader Barnaby Joyce with David Littleproud, who also becomes Deputy Opposition Leader.

Andrew Hastie has been named as the Coalition’s shadow Defence Minister. Hastie is the member for Canning which covers the regional, rural, and coastal areas south of Perth in WA. Prior to entering parliament in 2015, Hastie served in the Australian Army, including five years with the SAS Regiment.

Taking the role of Shadow Minister for Veterans Affairs is former Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce MP. Joyce is the member for New England, a rural seat which covers much of northern inland NSW. He was originally elected as a Senator for Queensland before switching to the House of Representatives in 2010, and has twice been the Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister.

Luke Howarth MP has been given the roles of Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel. Howarth has been the member for Petrie in the northern suburbs of Brisbane in Queensland since he was first elected in 2013, and has held junior cabinet positions with the coalition since 2019.

The Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence is Phillip Thompson MP. Thompson was elected to parliament in 2019 as the member for Herbert which covers Townsville in northern Queensland. Prior to this he was a soldier in the Australian Army from 2006 to 2011.