Canberra Liberals leader Alistair Coe reveals reshuffle ahead of Parliament return

Canberra Liberals' leader Alistair Coe revealed a shake-up of his team ahead of the return of the ACT parliament on February 13.

Mr Coe said Mr Doszpot's death, not MLAs' failure to perform, prompted the reshuffle and that those whose positions were unchanged in the reshuffle had performed well in their portfolios over the past year.

He said this year the Liberals would "push the envelope" when it came to policy.

"We want to see many of the issues that are formerly in the too-hard basket for the government actually vented by the Opposition," Mr Coe said.

"It's really important that we don't just have incremental change for the sake of it, we've got to make sure we're tackling these issues head on and the length of the school day is just one of them. There are many in all portfolios I think we need to focus on if we really want to be clear about where we're going."

Mr Coe cited Mr Wall's suggestion last week that the ACT school day be extended to meet the demands of working families as one of the ways the Liberals were pushing reform.

He said simplifying the ACT's planning system, finding "creative solutions" to the way municipal services were delivered and futureproofing the ACT's economy and transport network were key priorities for the year ahead.

"Unless you ask these big questions, unless you have a clear vision, it's very easy just to drift. We want to make sure we're focusing on the things that really matter to Canberrans and we're not going to shy away from having that discussion," Mr Coe said.

"We really have a diversity and breadth of experience that is not reflected on the other side. We're very pleased with the team we've got and we look forward to proposing these new ideas to make sure Canberra's going in the direction we want it to."

Deputy leader Nicole Lawder's current portfolio of planning and infrastructure will be split, with housing spokesman Mark Parton taking on planning and Mr Coe, as treasury spokesman, taking on infrastructure underneath the umbrella of economic development and innovation. Mr Parton will also speak on some infrastructure projects.

Ms Lawder will become the Liberals' spokeswoman for urban services, following the death of Liberal MLA Steve Doszpot last year.

Education and small business spokesman Andrew Wall will now focus on the portfolios of business and employment, higher education and training, and tourism, while disability spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee will now add education to her duties.

Former Liberals leader Jeremy Hanson remains the legal affairs spokesman, Elizabeth Kikkert is still the spokeswoman for multicultural affairs and families and James Milligan still holds the portfolios of sport and Indigenous affairs.

Giulia Jones retains the portfolios of women and emergency services while Vicki Dunne is still the spokeswoman for health.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said this "shuffling of deck chairs" proved the ACT Opposition was underperforming.

"They still remain the most conservative branch of the Liberal party in this country so shuffling the nameless faces around to different portfolios won't make any substantive different to their fundamental philosophical outlook which is conservative," Mr Barr said

"What we've really seen here is underperformers shuffled into other roles, that's I guess a reflection that not much more than a year after the election that some shadow ministers were not doing their job particularly well.

"Really other than that, I don't think anyone really knows most of these people and don't really care a lot for the work that they do, so we'll focus in government on delivering on our election commitments and really at this point who the shadow ministers are makes not that much difference."

Mr Barr also claimed the appointment of newcomer Ms Burch as transport spokeswoman was a "reflection of failure" from Mr Coe.

"It's interesting that the portfolio that has really defined the past two territory elections - transport - has been given to the newest member of the Opposition but I think it is really a reflection of failure from the Opposition leader in that he's run on this anti-public transport agenda pretty consistently through his time in the Assembly and perhaps is finally moving on from that role having lost a series of elections on that issue," Mr Barr said.

Mr Barr said the Labor party was not shuffling responsibilities ahead of the start of the political year.

Alistair Coe: Leader of the Opposition, treasury and economic spokesman. Former spokesman on transport, now spokesman on innovation.

Nicole Lawder: Deputy leader and former spokeswoman on planning and infrastructure. Now spokeswoman for urban services, seniors and heritage.

Giulia Jones: Spokeswoman for police and emergency services, corrections and women.

Jeremy Hanson: Spokesman for legal affairs and veteran affairs.

Elizabeth Lee: Spokeswoman for the environment and disability, now also for education.

Andrew Wall: Spokesman for industrial relations, tourism, business, now also higher education and training. Has relinquished portfolio of education to Elizabeth Lee.

Elizabeth Kikkert: Spokeswoman for families, youth, community services, multicultural affairs.

Candice Burch: Spokeswoman for transport and public sector management.

James Milligan: Spokesman for Indigenous affairs, sport and recreation.

Mark Parton: Spokesman for housing, gaming and racing, now also planning.

Vicki Dunne: Spokeswoman on health and arts