Prime Minister Tony Abbot has announced a cabinet reshuffle. The current minister for immigration Scott Morrison will become social services minister and take charge of a “families package” and ongoing welfare crackdown while Peter Dutton – who the prime minister described as a “tough, no nonsense individual” – will take over immigration and border security.

According to a report in The Guardian, Morrison was understood to have been disappointed having sought the defence portfolio in the reshuffle. In his announcement Tony Abbott stressed Morrison’s role in social services would be central to the government’s hopes for a political revival in the new year by putting “jobs and families at the heart of our political agenda”, as well as to its plans for “budget repair”.

 “I can think of no finer advocate than Scott Morrison, he is the master of difficult policy as he has abundantly demonstrated in all but stopping the boats over the last 15 months,” Abbott said. “He is also a very decent human being.”

Dutton will inherit the problem of more than 2,000 asylum seekers still in offshore detention and more than 30,000 asylum seekers in Australia facing the uncertainty of temporary protection visas.

Dutton has not had a great year as the health minister as he struggled to make a case for the GP co-payment. He will continue to oversee Australia's offshore processing of asylum seekers in Nauru and Manus Island.

_{Dutton’s Background}

Peter Dutton was elected as the Federal Member for Dickson in Queensland in November 2001 when, at the age of 30 he defeated Cheryl Kernot.

Dutton was re-elected with an increased majority in 2004 and appointed Minister for Workforce Participation, with responsibility for the Job Network, Disability Employment Services, Work for the Dole and improving transition to work opportunities for all unemployed Australians.

At the time of his appointment Dutton was one of the youngest Minister's since Federation.

In January 2006 Dutton was promoted to Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer. He worked closely with Peter Costello in areas including budget preparation, taxation, superannuation, prudential regulation, and competition and consumer policy.

Following his re-election in November 2007, and with the change of Government, Dutton was promoted to Shadow Cabinet as Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation.

In September 2008 he was promoted to the position of Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing. 

On the 18th of September 2013 Dutton was sworn in as the Minister for Health and Minister for Sport in the newly elected Abbott Government.