Labor MPs are publicly spruiking stability as Anthony Albanese decides on the cabinet team he will likely take to the federal election.
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Labor's ministry maintains a factional balance between the Left and Right, which convene and put people forward through different processes before the prime minister assigns portfolios.
Ministers Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor will retire at the next federal election, due by May 2025. They will step back from cabinet immediately to bring in fresh legs as the race to polling day starts to heat up.
Mr Albanese has put a premium on stability, having gone the first two years of his term without dumping or moving ministers.
Cabinet minister and former Labor leader Bill Shorten, a factional opponent of Mr Albanese, has called for promotions to be merit-based.
"Loyalty is not always rewarded but merit should be," he told Nine's Today Show on Friday.
But he too lauded the longevity of Mr Albanese's first cabinet.
"Normally in a first term of a coalition government, they lose six or seven of their ministers, so, really Albo set a record for stability," he said.
Labor backbencher Kate Thwaites, touted for a potential promotion, said the government was focused on issues rather than themselves.
"Our focus is exactly where it needs to be, providing people with cost-of-living relief, making sure our economy is as strong as possible," she told Sky News.
MP Ged Kearney, another candidate for promotion, said the prime minister "has made it very clear that he has utmost confidence in his cabinet" when asked whether changes were likely to be minor.
But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is pushing for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be sacked over the handling of a High Court decision that ruled indefinite detention was illegal.
The decision forced the government to release about 150 detainees - including some who had committed serious offences and served prison time - and the coalition has argued more should have been done to keep them locked up.
"If Andrew Giles doesn't get the flick, I don't know who does," Mr Dutton said.
With Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy expected to take the Indigenous Australians portfolio after serving as Ms Burney's assistant minister, a final cabinet spot remains.
It could go to a junior minister such as Mr Albanese's confidant Pat Conroy, or an assistant minister could be called in.
Assistant ministers and senators Tim Ayres, Jenny McAllister and Anthony Chisholm are all viewed as strong contenders to be promoted.
"We are a caucus that is batting very deep ... there's dozens of colleagues who have very strong capability, very strong capacity," Senator Ayres said.
New assistant ministers would also need to be picked.
Northern Territory MP Marion Scrymgour could pick up Senator McCarthy's assistant Indigenous affairs position.
The future of Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil is uncertain, with speculation she could be moved sideways into another ministry to allow someone such as frontbencher Murray Watt to take over the portfolio.
Ms Burney won the inner-Sydney seat of Barton with more than 50 per cent of the primary vote at the 2022 federal election.
"The most important thing ... is for me to support whoever it is in the role and to give them the space to be able to chart their own path," she told ABC Radio.
Australian Associated Press
