Two ministers face the axe from Albanese’s top team
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has implored Labor MPs not to focus too heavily on themselves amid an internal tussle to decide the government’s new ministry and cabinet.
“No individual is greater than the collective and that includes myself,” Albanese said on Thursday.
“When you’re focused inwards, the electorate will mark you down.”
Albanese said he had an “incredible team” and a Caucus that was “brimming with talent”.
“There’s a range of positions to be filled. I’m confident that whoever fills those positions, we will have an extraordinary team going forward.”
Factions met in Canberra on Thursday, with the party backroom wheeling and dealing in full throttle ahead of an expected swearing-in on Tuesday.
Two senior ministers are expected to lose their positions in a new-look lineup.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is set to be axed by his Victorian right faction colleagues in favour of Sam Rae, a key ally of Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
Industry Minister Ed Husic is also on the chopping block to rebalance the ledger between Victoria and NSW.
Albanese said Labor must approach this term with humility to “make sure that we deliver on the commitments that we made to the Australian people, but also that we operate in a way which shows solidarity.”
Labor’s ministry and cabinet are carved up between the states and the left and right factions, based on their proportion of seats.
The more progressive left, from which Albanese hails, has edged ahead of the right after the election, with more of its candidates winning seats.
But the ministry quota system has sparked an internal fight between Victorians and their NSW counterparts as the former want an extra seat at the table.
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New blood in the ministry will likely include Tim Ayres from NSW and Ged Kearney and Daniel Mulino from Victoria.
Labor will hold its first caucus on Friday and the new-look cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday.
The Liberals and Greens also need to endorse new leaders with Peter Dutton voted out and Adam Bandt conceding his seat.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and deputy leader Sussan Ley are locked in a numbers battle for the Liberal leadership.
Party warrior and ex-Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has backed Ley, saying the Liberals need a woman in the top job.
“She has experience, she’s been a loyal deputy but it’s time for the Liberal party to have a different perspective on life and that I think would come through a female,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.
Kennett also slammed the Coalition election campaign.
“The nicest word I could use would be disappointing — it could be a lot more extreme,” he said.
Former opposition leader Dutton, who lost his seat of Dickson in Queensland, arrived in Canberra on Wednesday to clear out his parliamentary office.
He has so far refused to weigh in on his replacement, saying it was best that former leaders “maintain a graceful silence”.
Regardless of the Liberal leader, the shadow cabinet makeup is likely to remain the same despite concerns the Nationals could be forced to demote a member due to the new balance of seats within the coalition.
The junior coalition partner makes up about one-third of the party room and while some seats are too close to call, they retain most of their members after a string of Liberal losses.
This means the Nationals are likely to keep their seven shadow cabinet spots and maintain their influence in key policy areas, after being previously over-represented.
The Nationals will also need to find a new deputy leader, with Perin Davey set to lose her NSW Senate spot.
No one has officially announced a tilt, but NSW MP Kevin Hogan and senators Bridget McKenzie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price have been raised as potential deputies.
Nationals MPs will hold a caucus meeting in Canberra on Monday but a date is yet to be set for the Liberals meeting, with more than half a dozen seats too close to call.
Nationals leader David Littleproud retained his seat but needs to be endorsed again as the party spills all leadership roles after each election.
He is expected to keep his job.
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Greens MP hits back
As the prime minister eyes his new cabinet, the Labor leader faces early headwinds including US tariffs and a potentially troublesome Greens senate cross bench.
Albanese and his senior ministers have already sent a shot across the Greens’ bow, warning them to be co-operative after a first term marred by blocked legislation and drawn-out negotiations.
The Greens have retained their balance of power status in the upper house, but lost leader Adam Bandt and three of four lower house seats, amid a Labor resurgence in the federal election on Saturday.
Outgoing Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather hit back at the prime minister for challenging him on live television, after he described parliament as a toxic place.
The firebrand MP who shot to prominence as the party’s housing spokesman and went head-to-head with Albanese, lost his seat of Griffith in Brisbane to Labor after one term.
Albanese said Chandler-Mather needed to reflect on why he wasn’t in parliament and how he conducted himself when he was, and called out the Greens MP’s attacks on his character.
“I feel like the PM launching into another attack on someone who isn’t even in parliament, rather than celebrating a historic win proves my point, which is this is how the political class treats ppl who fight for renters and real change,” Chandler-Mather posted to X.
“Compare this to his kind words for Dutton.”
I feel like the PM launching into another attack on someone who isn’t even in parliament, rather than celebrating a historic win proves my point, which is this is how the political class treats ppl who fight for renters & real change.
— Max Chandler-Mather (@MChandlerMather) May 7, 2025
Compare this to his kind words for Dutton. pic.twitter.com/fAPHcPhp25
Trade Minister Don Farrell pointed to what he said was a tendency to abrasive politics as the reason for the Greens’ poor showing in the lower house.
“The reason that they’ve done so badly in this election is because their supporters wanted them to support the government’s progressive policies, and they were doing exactly the opposite,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.
However, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi defended the party, saying Labor’s vote spiked because “a lot of progressive Australians were deeply anxious about a Dutton government”.
“But also, those same voters clearly wanted us to hold a potential Labor government to account, which is why we also achieved record high Senate votes,” she told ABC Radio.
The Greens’ balance of power position in the Senate means the government will need them to pass legislation opposed by the coalition.
The Greens are sweating on the Brisbane-based seat of Ryan, which is amongst 11 seats overall that remain too close to call after the election.
Labor has won at least 89 seats while the coalition sits on a diminished 40 seats in the 150-seat house, after the landslide re-election victory under Mr Albanese.
The Labor caucus will meet in Canberra on Friday ahead of the likely unveiling of a new-look cabinet on Monday.
Farrell, a right faction powerbroker, said he would leave Albanese to determine his cabinet as the Labor factions tussle for ministry representations.
Spots are decided on a proportional basis.
The Victorian right faction is calling for an extra post at the expense of their NSW counterparts, who are overrepresented after a swathe of new MPs changed the left and right faction balance.
The ministry is likely to be sworn in on Tuesday with Albanese planning to travel to Indonesia the following day to meet President Prabowo Subianto.
Also on Albanese’s early-term agenda are the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on imported goods, steel and aluminium from Australia.
Trump has also flagged a 100 per cent tariff on films made outside the US, which has alarmed the Australian arts community.
Speaking in Los Angeles, Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd said “I don’t think we want to see a tax on Bluey”, the popular children’s show on the ABC.
