Marles praises Dreyfus while refusing to acknowledge he deposed him

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has praised former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus for his “enormous contribution” to the country while denying personal responsibility for the factional machinations that turfed the long-serving frontbencher from Labor’s cabinet.

As the defence minister faced a 10-minute press conference grilling over the decision to dump Dreyfus and Ed Husic to make way for fresher faces in Victoria’s Labor Right faction, which he leads, Marles also rejected suggestions the move would compromise the government’s stability or his own leadership ambitions.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was described as a “factional assassin” by his colleague Ed Husic, but denied personal responsibility for axing ministers on Thursday.Credit: James Brickwood.

The axing of Dreyfus and Husic happened just days after Labor’s thumping election win as former prime minister Paul Keating lashed “factional lightweights” for the decisions, while Husic described Marles as a “factional assassin” who had treated Dreyfus without dignity.

Dreyfus had tried to contact Marles when the factional processes for determining Labor’s ministry positions began, but was not called until the decision had been made. Dreyfus, 68, would likely not have contested the election had he known he would lose his frontbench position.

Speaking to media in Perth on Thursday, Marles sidestepped all questions about his role in the fracas, and refused to say whether he ignored Dreyfus’ calls, should have told him he could be dumped earlier, or had spoken with him since.

“These are collective processes, but I’m not about to go into the detail of how those processes unfold,” he said repeatedly. “I’ve not spoken about those processes in the past, obviously, and I’m not about to talk about them now, other than to say, clearly they’re difficult.”

Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus at a Labor caucus last week.Credit: James Brickwood

Instead, he praised Dreyfus’ performance. “Mark Dreyfus has made an enormous contribution to our country. He’s served on our frontbench for more than a decade,” Marles said.

“He’s been, in total, the attorney-general of our nation for four years. It’s a contribution about which he should feel very proud. It’s one that I’m very grateful for, and I know all of our colleagues are, and the nation is.”

Marles said the increased size of Labor’s caucus, and need for renewal, had meant many good people with frontbench potential did not have the opportunity. “None of us have an entitlement to be a minister. We all know that. We know that we submit ourselves to those processes,” he said.

This masthead has reported that Labor powerbrokers are now mooting a plan to install campaign head Paul Erickson into Dreyfus’ seat if he resigns, but the former attorney-general has just been re-elected with an increased majority.

Asked whether taxpayers would be paying for Labor’s infighting if a byelection were held, Marles said: “I’m not about to speculate on what may or may not happen there. At the end of the day, what we’ve had here is an election, and in the ordinary course, we’ve gone through the collective process of selecting the new ministry.”

On losing Dreyfus, the only Jewish member of cabinet, Marles said: “We have, in fact, a very diverse ministry, a ministry that has never looked more like the full breadth of Australia.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.