The sun shone on Government House on Monday as the new Turnbull ministry was sworn in.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The green grass was clipped, the spring flowers bloomed and off in the distance, Lake Burley Griffin sparkled a cheery hello.
There was something in the air and it wasn't pollen.
Wyatt Roy - who some might have been mistaken for another minister's kid - turned up in sunglasses to be sworn in as Assistant Minister for Innovation.
Kelly O'Dwyer, the new Small Business Minister, arrived wheeling her baby daughter Olivia in a pram. Education Minister Simon Birmingham was accompanied by his young daughters in bright party dresses.
Inside, as ministers were sworn in, the usually staid proceedings were peppered with spontaneous applause.
When Malcolm Turnbull called Marise Payne to be sworn in as Australia's first female Defence Minister, there was an outburst of "hear, hears" and clapping from her colleagues.
O'Dwyer and fellow cabinet newcomer, Michaelia Cash, were also applauded on their way up to the Governor-General. It may have been a room full of egos (some of them battered and bruised), but the vibe was perilously close to supportive.
After the official part, the new Turnbull ministry assembled on the front steps of Government House for their class photo. In the middle, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister beamed smiles that could power small villages for months.
Despite the bonhomie, Julie Bishop did not let her guard down.
"Everybody sees the boom mic ..." she said in a not so veiled warning to Peter Dutton and any of other colleagues who felt the urge to make jokes about Indigenous people or Pacific Island nations sinking under rising sea levels.
The full ministry then began to divide into different combinations - just the cabinet, just the assistant ministers, the Nationals, the Victorians, the West Australians - for more photos. But there was one grouping that stood out.
"Now we want just the women. All the women," Bishop declared.
Imagine if such a photo had been ordered under the two Abbott ministries?
The first time it would have just been Bishop standing on the steps by herself. The second, she would have had one buddy in Sussan Ley.
On Monday, while women made up just 24 per cent of the Turnbull cabinet, there was still enough for a group photo.
The Prime Minister joined in for one version, before he excused himself.
It wasn't like they needed him make up the numbers.
