Anthony Albanese has tapped “great communicator” Clare O’Neil to take control of the government’s troubled efforts to lift housing supply, which pollsters say have been drowned out by the Greens’ precocious spokesman Max Chandler-Mather.

In his first cabinet reshuffle since taking power in May 2022, the prime minister moved Ms O’Neil sideways out of the Home Affairs and Cybersecurity ministries, to make her Housing and Homelessness Minister. She will replace Tasmanian Julie Collins, who return to the lower-profile agriculture portfolio she held in opposition.