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Walsh hands over agriculture portfolio

NATIONALS leader and Murray Plains MP Peter Walsh has relinquished the shadow agriculture portfolio in a Coalition shadow cabinet shake-up.

New Liberal Party leader John Pesutto unveiled his first shadow cabinet on Sunday, ditching veteran MPs in favour of a younger generation.

Mr Walsh maintains the regional Victoria and Aboriginal affairs portfolios, adding local government.

He has handed the crucial agriculture folder to Nationals deputy leader Emma Kealy.

Newly elected Mildura MP Jade Benham was overlooked for a position in the shadow cabinet, which features new faces including tennis player-turned Liberal MP Sam Groth.

The 60th Parliament of Victoria will officially open on Tuesday, with members sworn in at 11am.

It comes as party president Greg Mirabella announced there would be no review into last month’s election.

In an email to Liberal Party members, Mr Mirabella said reviews were too often ignored.

“We had comprehensive reviews after the 2014 and 2018 state losses, and I’ve been briefed on the 2022 federal loss review as well,” he said.

“Several of the campaign staff have spent the past week analysing the old reviews, as well as the ALP’s own review from 2019.

“As you might expect, so many of the ‘lessons’ are the same, and so many of the recommendations seem to remain unimplemented.”

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