Anthony Albanese to announce fresh faces in ministerial reshuffle to boost team for election battle

Malarndirri McCarthy and Murray Watt are set to be promoted in a ministerial reshuffle Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will use to refresh his front bench as he seeks to build momentum against the Coalition ahead of the next federal election.

Albanese will announce his new cabinet and ministry in Canberra on Sunday after three resignations gave him a larger than expected opportunity to promote ambitious young backbenchers and recast some of the most significant roles in his government.

Malarndirri McCarthy is set to be promoted to Indigenous Australians Minister in a ministerial reshuffle on Sunday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Tasmanian senator Carol Brown announced on Saturday she would step aside from her position as assistant minister for transport and infrastructure, creating a further vacancy in the outer ministry.

Senator Brown resigned from her portfolio responsibilities due to health reasons but will remain in parliament. Her resignation follows those of Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor who announced their decisions on Thursday.

Key to the prime minister’s reshuffle is a reset in the home affairs and immigration portfolios where Labor has been under pressure over its response to the High Court’s contentious NZYQ ruling that freed asylum seekers from indefinite detention last year.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles are both set to be moved into other areas.

The pair have been responsible for the government’s response to the High Court decision since late last year but have attracted months of ferocious media and opposition scrutiny as the speed and competence of their response to the case and its flow-on effects were questioned.

Giles, who has struggled to defend the government’s position on indefinite detention, has told colleagues he understands the political reality and the pressure of the opposition’s calls to dump him, although some of his Labor colleagues believe he has been treated unfairly in the media.

Giles will remain in the outer ministry, however, possibly with the portfolio of veterans affairs and defence materiel, while O’Neil, an ambitious minister, could be moved to housing, another area where the government has failed to dominate public debate on an issue that is white-hot among voters.

Moving O’Neil could see Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, seen within the government as a good salesman with broad public appeal promoted to Home Affairs. Another scenario would see Tony Burke, Industrial Relations Minister and the government’s Leader of the House, moved to Home Affairs, vacating the industrial relations role for Watt.

Tasmanian MP Julie Collins, now the Housing Minister, would move to agriculture.

Last year’s NZYQ ruling was made by the High Court in November and outlawed indefinite detention, resulting in 153 detainees being freed. Many of those people were subsequently revealed to have serious criminal records.

McCarthy, a senator from the Northern Territory, will take over from Burney as Indigenous Australians Minister and allow the government to reset its message following the defeat of the Voice referendum last year.

NSW Left senator Jenny McAllister will also be promoted to the outer ministry while Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keogh or Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy will change portfolios and move into cabinet.

NSW MP Andrew Charlton and Victorian MPs Kate Thwaites, Jess Walsh, Jana Stewart and Raff Ciccone are also in the mix for promotion, according to sources who asked not to be named so they could discuss the reshuffle.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister declined to comment on reshuffle speculation.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the new line-up would allow the government to take fresh faces to the next federal election, due in the first half of 2025.

“The prime minister has made it clear he will be announcing the new frontbench here in Canberra tomorrow [Sunday],” Senator Gallagher said in Canberra on Saturday.

“And that will form the team that you know, goes to the next election focused on delivering for Australians, particularly in the area of cost of living. A strong and united team that’s absolutely focused on delivering for Australians and I think will stand in good contrast to the divided and negative opposition that’s being led by Peter Dutton.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton continued to demonstrate the Coalition’s determination to go after the performance of O’Neil and Giles.

“I really think Andrew Giles’ position is completely and utterly untenable. So he should go, that should be the first test for the prime minister, and not just parachuted into another portfolio, he needs to go,” Dutton said on Sky television on Saturday morning.

“There’s no way in the world the prime minister could credibly have Andrew Giles in a ministry, given what he’s done so far. And Clare O’Neil, of course, is the co-conspirator to all of that.

“I think there’s a lot of speculation at the moment around Murray Watt moving into the immigration portfolio....He’s basically just a clone of Andrew Giles. So, you can change the sales person, but you still have them read from the same script. They’re weak on borders and people are getting to our mainland at the moment.”

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