David Coleman is his name, and, in possibly good news, he has no parliamentary record of voting for ABC funding cuts or for its privatisation.

So, who is he?

Well, he’s the Liberal MP for Banks in NSW, and was elected into the House of Reps in 2013, when he defeated the incumbent Labor member for Banks, Daryl Melham, who had held the seat for 23 years, becoming the first non-Labor member to hold the seat since the Division of Banks was created in 1949.

Before entering politics, Coleman worked for global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co, LookSmart, dStore, and after 2005, in a variety of roles for PBL Media and the Nine Network where he was the director of strategy and digital. So he has real media experience.

Ministerial career

Coleman was appointed Assistant Minister for Finance in December 2017, in the Second Turnbull Ministry. In the August 2018 leadership spills, he reportedly supported Malcolm Turnbull in the first vote and Scott Morrison in the second. He was subsequently appointed Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs in the First Morrison Ministry. After the government's re-election at the 2019 election, his title was changed to Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs.

In December 2019, it was announced that Coleman would be taking indefinite leave for personal reasons, with Alan Tudge taking over his portfolio as acting minister. He formally remained as a minister until a December 2020 reshuffle, in which he was instead appointed Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. He served in this portfolio until May 2022, following the appointment of the Albanese ministry.

Political views

Coleman is a member of the Moderate/Modern Liberal faction of the Liberal Party and was in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in the 2017 postal survey.

Why the change?

Peter Dutton has made minor changes to his frontbench after Alan Tudge announced his resignation late last week.

Mr Tudge, who held the shadow education portfolio, called time on his 12-year parliamentary career representing the outer Melbourne seat of Aston.

Victorian Senator Sarah Henderson will take over as the Shadow Minister for Education, relinquishing her role as the Coalition's spokesperson for communications.

ABC Friends visited David Coleman on his fourth day in the portfolio, and he indicated that his two tasks were to hold the government accountable and to develop Liberal Party communications policy.