No frontbench seat for Labor MP Pat Dodson

The man who was set to be Labor’s indigenous ­affairs minister isn’t interested in the role in opposition.

Labor senator Pat Dodson. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor senator Pat Dodson, who would have been indigenous ­affairs minister if a Shorten government was elected, will not sit on Anthony Albanese’s frontbench.

The Australian has been told Senator Dodson will not ­replace Madeleine King as Western Australia’s right-wing representative on the Labor frontbench, despite being hailed by Mr Shorten as a ­future cabinet minister.

Labor Right sources say Senator Dodson was not interested in the role in opposition but he could not be contacted for comment ­yesterday.

The Labor caucus will meet in Canberra tomorrow to vote on the frontbench that will take on Scott Morrison’s team, which was yesterday sworn in by Governor-General Peter Cosgrove.

Labor’s factions pick the members of the frontbench and Mr ­Albanese will then choose their port­folios, which he will announce by Monday.

As foreshadowed by The Australian, NSW MP Ed Husic said he would not apply for the shadow ministry, instead making way for fellow NSW Right MP Kristina Keneally to join the frontbench.

Senator Keneally was last night attempting to gain the numbers to be elected deputy Senate leader, although powerbrokers believe South Australia’s Don Farrell was expected to retain the position.

Senator Kristina Keneally.

This would mean men hold three of the party’s four leadership positions, with the exception being Penny Wong, who will be re-­elected as Senate leader.

Mr Albanese has urged colleagues to back Senator ­Keneally for the Senate position so there is a 50-50 representation of men and women in the four key positions.

ACT Left senator Katy Gallagher is expected to join the ­shadow cabinet in either the ­finance or financial services portfolio, while fellow ACT MP ­Andrew Leigh will be dumped.

Other Left MPs in line for a frontbench spot are Victorian MP Andrew Giles and NSW MP Pat Conroy, while the Left’s NSW ­senator Jenny McAllister and Queensland senator Murray Watt were given an outside chance of winning a portfolio.

The faces making up the frontbench will be the same as those who lost the election, albeit with key portfolios in different hands.

Bill Shorten is unlikely to be ­offered his preferred portfolio of health, with sources speculating it would “make sense” for him to ­replace Victorian senator Kim Carr as industry spokesman.

The Australian revealed on Monday that Jim Chalmers was likely to replace Chris Bowen as Treasury spokesman.

The opposition cabinet will shrink from 21 members to 20, with the frontbench to stay at 30. There will be 12 shadow assistant ministers, four less than under Mr Shorten.

Mr Albanese said yesterday he would remind his caucus that the Labor Party is “resilient”.

“We’ve been around since 1891,” he said. “We have, I think, values that augur well and fit with the Australian ethos of a fair go. We don’t want to abandon those values. What we do want to do is have a proper assessment of the policies that we took forward.”