Senior Albanese government ministers could quit in a matter of days

The expected retirements of senior Labor ministers Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor would clear the way for Anthony Albanese to finally announce a frontbench reshuffle in a matter of days, allowing the prime minister to take a fresher team to the next election.

Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, is widely expected to announce her retirement from politics at the next election while some Labor MPs believe O’Connor, the minister for skills and training, could follow her into retirement. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is not tipped to quit despite recent speculation.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The retirements would create two vacancies for Labor’s Left faction to fill in the prime minister’s cabinet – if the pair choose to move to the backbench immediately – and open the door for Albanese to revamp his frontbench before the next election, due no later than May 2025, and inject fresh blood into his ministerial line-up.

This masthead spoke to Labor MPs from different factions and states on Tuesday and Wednesday about the mooted shake-up of the frontbench and possible retirements, and while none of those MPs would speak on the record, all suggested frontbench changes were imminent.

Burney, 67, entered the NSW parliament in 2003 and served in a series of senior portfolios before switching to federal politics in 2016. O’Connor, 62, entered federal parliament in 2001 and has been a fixture on Labor’s frontbench in a string of portfolios since 2007.

Many in Labor expected Burney to step down from her portfolio after the Voice to parliament referendum was defeated last year. Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, the assistant minister for Indigenous Australians, is widely expected to move into Burney’s portfolio if the current minister steps aside, but it is less clear who would replace O’Connor.

Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor at a Business Council of Australia event in March.Credit: Louis Trerise

However, Labor MPs spoken to believe Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles are likely to be moved to new portfolios after struggling to contain the political fallout of the High Court’s contentious NZYQ ruling that freed asylum seekers from indefinite detention.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt is widely tipped to be promoted to a new role, and some in Labor believe he will be handed the Home Affairs portfolio. Under that scenario, O’Neil would take the Housing and Homelessness portfolio from Tasmanian Julie Collins and attempt to capitalise on Labor’s extensive promises in that portfolio, while Collins would move to Agriculture, which she held in opposition.

Another scenario floated is Giles’ role of immigration minister being given greater prominence and handed to a cabinet minister rather than a member in the outer ministry, where Giles now sits. If Watt, who is widely tipped to move, is handed either Immigration or Home Affairs, a senior minister such as Tony Burke could field tricky questions in question time on behalf of the government.

Giles has told MPs he understands the political reality and the opposition calls to dump him, even if some of his Labor colleagues believe he has been treated unfairly in the media and his standing has been hurt by unforeseen events.

A spokeswoman for O’Connor said: “The minister is contemplating whether he will contest the next election.”

Both Burney and the prime minister’s office declined to comment.

Potential elevations into the outer ministry from the ranks of assistant ministers include West Australian MP Patrick Gorman, Victorian MP Ged Kearney, NSW MPs Jenny McAllister and Tim Ayres and Queensland MP Anthony Chisholm.

Speaking in Perth on Wednesday ahead of Albanese’s return from holidays on Thursday, acting Prime Minister Richard Marles ducked questions about possible changes to Labor’s frontbench.

“Reshuffles are obviously a matter for the prime minister; he is on leave right now,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called for Giles to be sacked and said there was a lot of unrest within the Labor Party.

He labelled Giles the most incompetent minister in the Albanese government, citing the “unnecessary” release of 153 criminals into the Australian community.

Dutton claimed Australians were looking at the prime minister and asking: “What on earth are you doing when you can’t sack a minister like Andrew Giles?”

“So instead of a parachute to a soft landing for Andrew Giles, into another portfolio where hopefully he can display some competence, the prime minister’s test on this reshuffle is whether he sacks Andrew Giles,” he said.

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