Anthony Albanese’s ministerial reset: push to get home affairs in order

Anthony Albanese is being urged to use his first ministerial reshuffle to sharpen Labor’s policy cut-through in Indigenous affairs, housing and immigration while swapping out Andrew Giles and Clare O’Neil from their current jobs.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney tears up during a news conference on Thursday to announce her impending retirement from parliament. Picture: AAP

Anthony Albanese is being urged to use his first ministerial reshuffle to sharpen Labor’s policy cut-through in Indigenous affairs, housing and immigration while swapping out under-pressure ministers Andrew Giles and Clare O’Neil from their current jobs.

The Prime Minister, who will unveil a new Labor team on Sunday, announced the resignations of Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, while defending his decision last year to proceed with a referendum on a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.

Mr O’Connor and Ms Burney will step down from cabinet before leaving parliament at the next federal poll. Mr Albanese revealed the caucus would be charged with selecting two MPs for available ministries freed up by the senior cabinet departures.

Mr Albanese on Thursday recommitted to his longstanding objective of becoming the first Australian prime minister to be successfully returned to government in two decades and boasted about how long his cabinet and ministerial line-up had lasted.

“No government in living memory has had the same cabinet and ministerial positions for its first two years in office,” he said. “At the next election, I will be seeking to be the first Prime Minister since John Howard in 2004 to serve out a term and to be re-elected as prime minister.”

Some Labor frontbenchers said the departures of Mr O’Connor and Ms Burney provided an opportunity for a wider reshuffle to including swapping out ­Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil from their portfolios.

Pressure on both ministers has built after months of sustained scrutiny over the government’s response to the High Court’s landmark NZYQ decision, under which dangerous non-citizens were released into the community, and numerous cyber attacks that resulted in millions of Australians’ data being breached. One cabinet minister proposed the departures of Ms O’Neil and Mr Giles into different roles because of the intensity of their respective portfolios.

“What I will say about Immigration and Home Affairs … is they’re doing a really hard job,” the cabinet minister said. “I can’t imagine how anyone holds those portfolios for an abundantly long time and remain sane.”

Several other frontbenchers said moving on Ms O’Neil and Mr Giles would allow for “a refresh” of two portfolios plagued with challenges. “It could allow us to draw a line under some of that,” one source said.

Government sources said the departures of two cabinet ministers from the ALP’s left faction meant likely candidates for ­promotion included assistant ministers Ged Kearney, Jenny McAllister and Tim Ayres as well as backbenchers including Julian Hill and Josh Wilson.

It was widely expected Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy, the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians, would be promoted to cabinet to take Ms Burney’s portfolio. “It makes sense to keep a First Nations woman in that role,” a senior Labor source said.

“Then the trade-off could be that the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians, which ­(Senator McCarthy) had, would go to someone in the lower house.”

Aboriginal leaders called for renewed emphasis on economic empowerment and self-­governance in the wake of Ms Burney’s retirement, with conservative Indigenous leader Sean Gordon urging Ms Burney’s successor to establish local voices in remote communities.

“Given the strong voting results on the referendum in remote communities for a voice, it is hoped that the incoming minister would focus their efforts on establishing place-based governance models to empower communities to lead their own change … I would liken them to ‘local voices’,” Mr Gordon said.

Despite the loss of the voice referendum, Ms Burney said there were silver linings to the endeavour – including the support of more than 6 million Australians for the proposal.

She hosed down the need for treaty-making and truth-telling – the second and third parts of the Uluru Statement from the Heart after a voice to parliament – to be pursued at the federal level, declaring both processes were “heading in the right direction” under the leadership of state and territory governments.

Several MPs ­suggested Mr O’Connor’s cabinet spot would go to Ms Kearney.

“She’s from the same sub-­faction as Brendan, the industrial left,” a senior ALP source said. “Then you could move someone up, another Victorian say, like Jess Walsh, which would be another person in the senate and someone from the (United Workers Union).”

Most MPs believed the coming reshuffle would be limited, with a senior minister saying it would “minor … at best” and another MP saying they could not imagine a “wild reshuffle”.

Peter Dutton repeated his call for Mr Giles to be dumped to the backbench from the immigration portfolio on Thursday, telling 2GB radio that “you can’t release 153 hardened criminals into the community”. “He has to go. I don’t think he will, because he’s a factional ally of the Prime Minister, so he’ll probably get a safe landing,” the Opposition Leader said. “If the PM’s got any backbone, he would send Giles to the backbench.”

Several senior sources pointed to WA MP Matt Keogh as a potential replacement for Mr Giles in the immigration portfolio – raising the prospect that Mr Giles could be moved to veterans’ affairs and defence personnel in return.

When asked if he would be shifted out of veterans’ affairs, Mr Keogh responded: “We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has been discussed as a potential successor to Ms O’Neil in home affairs but several MPs said he had won the trust of the agriculture sector, which would be needed going forward.

One Labor source said the government would benefit from replacing Julie Collins in the housing portfolio. “I actually think Clare (O’Neil) would be great in housing … She’s a gung-ho media performer,” the source said. “We would be able to take on (the Greens’) Max (Chandler-Mather) and take on the Liberals and others in that space.”

Other Labor MPs agreed Ms O’Neil could provide the “edge” needed in the housing portfolio, which is one of the key areas of attack for the Coalition.