 Following the resignation of Baird as premier and the election of Gladys Berejiklian as Liberal leader, in January 2017 Goward was sworn in as the Minister for Family and Community Services, the Minister for Social Housing, and the Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.,

In December 2018, she announced that she would not be contesting the next election in March 2019.After being in Parliament a single day, Goward told a symposium of women in leadership in Sydney that "I have never worked in any profession as male-dominated or as ruthlessly sexist as this.I was quite shocked by it."