Australia's first woman defence minister, Marise Payne, is being widely hailed as a good choice at a time when the nation has troops fighting Islamic State, a white paper in its final stages and a looming decision over a $50 billion submarine program.
The 51-year-old moderate Liberal NSW senator will be the nation's first woman in the job but the third person to hold the role in the two years since the last election.
"Marise is great. She's been interested in defence for a long time and she's got a good handle on the issues," one insider said.
Another described her as serious and possessing a "good mind for the portfolio", having spent years on parliamentary committees on defence and foreign affairs.
Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James described her as "a great choice".
"She was an excellent chair of committees and she's good at listening to a range of views," he said. "But one of the most important things is that her future is ahead of her."
There have been concerns lately about a revolving door of defence ministers. Senator Payne, currently the Human Services Minister, follows Kevin Andrews and West Australian senator David Johnston in just the past two years. Before that, Labor had three defence ministers in six years.
Indeed a "disappointed" Mr Andrews said pointedly on Sunday afternoon that, as a result of his sacking, Australia will have had "more defence ministers … than prime ministers in the past three years".
"Frankly my remaining in this job was not about me. It was all about the stability of our defence force in Australia and its leadership," Mr Andrews said.
Announcing his reshuffle, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also stressed there would be continuity in the government's premier defence decision-making body, the National Security Committee of cabinet.
As well as senior ministers Julie Bishop, Warren Truss and George Brandis, the committee's meetings are also attended by seasoned officials, uniformed and civilian.
Senator Payne's biggest challenge will be to pick a way through the politics of shipbuilding, with the government having to choose the best possible submarine based on advice from the Defence Department, while also satisfying demands for significant local job creation.
There was some disquiet across the defence community caused by the strong speculation that the job would go to Christopher Pyne.
That was not because of doubts about Mr Pyne's competence but because, as the senior Liberal from South Australia, his appointment would have signalled that defence was to be all about delivering submarine-building to that state, shoring up the Coalition's political fortunes there.
In that vein, Mr James said his enthusiasm for Senator Payne's appointment was "not just because the alternatives were terrible".
