Who will be the next Agriculture Minister?

Speculation is brewing over who will own the Federal Government’s agriculture portfolios. See the contenders.

Who Australia’s next agriculture minister will be remains a mystery with newly minted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yet to reveal who will take on the portfolio.

Only four other ministers — Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher — were sworn in alongside Mr Albanese on Monday following Labor’s historic federal election win at the weekend.

Labor’s agriculture spokeswoman Julie Collins comfortably held onto her seat of Franklin, in southern Tasmania. But it remains to be seen whether she will continue in the role she took over from the popular and now retired Joel Fitzgibbon in January last year.

Mr Albanese’s full cabinet is expected to be sworn in at Government House in the coming week and a number of names have been circulated as possible replacements for Ms Collins, who had little prior involvement with the sector before her appointment.

The assigning of portfolios within the Labor Party is usually determined by the Caucus, and there is speculation that anyone with the faintest of involvement in agriculture could be handed the role.

Speculation continues to mount that former Labor leader Bill Shorten is first in line to replace Ms Collins, but that idea has been firmly shut down by the Maribrynong MP’s office. “That’s a firm no,” said one of Shorten’s advisers.

Former truck driver Western Australia Senator Glenn Sterle.

West Australian Senator Glenn Sterle – who ran a trucking company for 14 years – has been named as a strong contender given his tenure as chair of the rural and regional affairs and transport committee between 2013 and 2016.

Victorian Senator Raf Ciccone’s name has also been circulated. Senator Ciccone was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, which reported on the Working Holiday Visa program at the onset of Covid.