Ed Husic blasts ‘factional assassin’ Richard Marles amid cabinet chaos

Days after losing his ministerial role, Ed Husic has blasted the Deputy Prime Minister for behaving like a “factional assassin”.

Ed Husic has accused Richard Marles of being a “factional assassin” after the Western Sydney MP was booted out of cabinet following last week’s federal election.

Mr Husic was industry and science minister in the Albanese government’s first term but lost his portfolio in fierce negotiations between Labor’s factions.

On Sunday, he blamed Mr Marles — the leader of Victoria’s Labor Right faction — and said the Deputy Prime Minister had put his own ambition ahead of the party.

Ed Husic lost his cabinet position in fierce factional negotiations within the Labor Party’s right. Picture: NewsWire / Philip Gostelow

“The difficult issue here is that we’ve had bare faced ambition and a deputy prime minister wield a factional club to reshape the ministry,” Mr Husic told the ABC.

“I think people, when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin.”

He said there would be “a lot of questions put to Richard (Marles) about his role” in Labor’s post-vote turbulence, adding that it was “something that he will have to answer and account for”.

Under factional agreements, the Victorian Right was entitled to two cabinet spots while Labor Left gained one spot following the election.

Mark Dreyfus — a member of the Victorian Right — was ousted by his faction, losing him his role as attorney-general.

Sam Rae has been picked to take Mr Dreyfus’s ministry position.

As both deputy prime minister and the most senior Right member at the national level, Labor insiders have said Mr Marles pushed for another Victorian Right MP to jump into the ministerial pool at the cost of a NSW Right MP.

Mr Husic, Tony Burke, Jason Clare and Chris Bowen were the options.

Mr Husic said he voluntarily took the bullet “in the interests of stability”.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has been called a ‘factional assassin’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“I made the decision ultimately,” he said.

“We would have had to have taken it to a national right ballot. The way it was managed was all very last minute.”

He said it was deliberately managed that way to help Mr Marles stack the cabinet with his supporters.

“You’ve heard the stories about Mark (Dreyfus) trying to get in contact with Richard (Marles),” Mr Husic said.

“These things were left, as I said, last minute. I think there was a deliberateness about all that.

“I wasn’t going to put my colleagues through that. I did, again, what I thought was the right thing.”

Anthony Albanese, who belongs to Labor Left, was asked to intervene in the factional fighting but stayed out of it.

Mr Husic said it was a mistake.

“The PM had great authority coming out of the election,” he said.

“I think if he’d exercised it in a way that provided for stability and a strong team ... no-one would have quibbled about that.”