Independents Rebekha Sharkie and Andrew Wilkie will be considered for elevation to the Speaker’s chair if the Albanese government opts to install a crossbench MP and maintain its slim majority on the floor of Parliament.

As Labor’s factions carve up frontbench positions in the wake of the party’s victory on May 21, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday named former Melbourne University vice chancellor Glyn Davis as the incoming secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the putative head of the federal public service.