Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will be appointed Minister of Defense, while Brendan O’Connor, who held the opposition portfolio, is the leader in being appointed Minister of the Interior.
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Labor MPs Kristy McBain, Anika Wells, Jenny McAllister and Deborah O’Neill are expected to be promoted to the ministry.
The coveted position of president has not been resolved, with the possibility that Labor will want to convince a cross-section MP to take the seat if he does not get a majority of at least 76 seats.
If the post of speaker passes to a Labor member, Rob Mitchell, who has served as second vice-president for nine years, he would be a candidate, along with Queensland MPs Shayne Neumann and Milton Dick.
The appointment of Neumann, who had a portfolio of opposition veterans’ affairs, would open up a post in the ministry for Wells, a fellow Queensland.
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Albanese said on Saturday he was “very confident” that Labor would win at least 76 seats, despite confirmation that the Greens had taken the Brisbane seat. The result meant the Greens won three seats in the election and now have four seats in parliament.
After settling on his first bench, Albanese faces a difficult choice over whether to move to higher-ranking officials after being forced out of Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Phil Gaetjens on Sunday.
Several labor sources confirmed that the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Kathryn Campbell, would be moving at some point and that it was only a matter of time. Labor MPs said it was untenable for him to continue in office given his previous criticisms of his handling of the robot debt scandal when he was head of the Human Services Department.
DFAT sources, Labor and Liberals have questioned whether he was the right person to lead Australia’s foreign service.
Candidates to replace Campbell could include DFAT Deputy Secretary Justin Hayhurst, Department of Defense Secretary Greg Moriarty, and former Chief Diplomatic Richard Maude.
Labor factions will meet on Monday to agree on the ministry of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: David Gray / Getty Images
Meanwhile, Secretary of the Treasury Rosemary Huxtable and Secretary of Health Brendan Murphy are expected to retire soon, opening these positions.
Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy is forced to stay.
There are still questions about the future of Australia’s best spy, the director general of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer, and the secretary of the Department of the Interior, Michael Pezzullo.
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Foreign Minister Penny Wong criticized the appointment of Shearer, who was an adviser to three Liberal prime ministers, while also criticizing Pezzullo for his “war drums” speech.
However, high-level Labor sources said Shearer had been impressed with his timely briefings over the past six months on national security issues and that there would be no reason to move him immediately.
Pezzullo has also been tasked with investigating why the Australian Border Force made public the interception of an alleged asylum seeker ship on election day, suggesting that the head of internal affairs be left behind. moment.
While Pezzullo has been criticized by many for implementing the Coalition’s tough border policies over the past nine years, he was closer to Labor, who had served as deputy chief of staff to former opposition leader Kim Beazley. .
Any move could also depend on whether Labor makes structural changes to the mammoth home affairs portfolio, which was created by Pezzullo and Home Secretary Dutton in 2017.
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