Who's who in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's new Cabinet?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has unveiled his Cabinet for the next term of Parliament, with the Labor Government set to govern with a significant majority.

Who's who in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's new Cabinet?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed which MPs will form his Cabinet in this term of Parliament.

Cabinet positions include roles like the Defence Minister, the Treasurer, and the Minister for Women.

Labor won the election in a landslide against the Coalition, with at last 93 MPs and 28 Senators elected.

Some MPs have been promoted, while others have lost their senior roles due to factional rivalries within the party’s ranks.

Here are the faces of Albanese’s second term.

Cabinet

A Cabinet is a small group of senior ministers who have responsibility over certain areas of government.

Various ministers did not recontest the election, including NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.

This means there have been some “vacancies” to fill.

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese will serve as Prime Minister for another three years.

He has led the Labor Party since 2019, taking over from Bill Shorten.

Albanese has been in Parliament as the member for the Sydney seat of Grayndler since 1996.

He is the first Labor Prime Minister since Bob Hawke in the 1980s to lead the party to back-to-back election wins.

Richard Marles

Richard Marles has been returned as the Deputy Prime Minister. He will also serve as Defence Minister.

Marles has held his Victorian seat of Corio since 2007, which is based around Geelong.

In recent days, Marles has been criticised by party members for spearheading factional deals to elevate two Victorian MPs to the cabinet.

As a result, former Ministers Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus have been removed from the frontbench.

Jim Chalmers

Jim Chalmers will return to the frontbench as Labor’s Treasurer.

Chalmers increased his margin in the Brisbane-based seat of Rankin, which he has held since 2013.

In the campaign, he was tasked with promoting Labor’s cost of living promises, including a tax cut and $150 energy bill discount that will take effect from July.

Chalmers is widely seen as a possible future leader of the Labor Party.

Penny Wong

Penny Wong has been re-appointed as Foreign Affairs Minister, after holding the title in the last term of Parliament.

Wong has been a Senator for South Australia since 2001.

She’s the first foreign affairs minister in Australia to have been born
overseas.

Wong is a close friend of the PM and introduced him onstage before his election night victory speech.

Katy Gallagher

Katy Gallagher will continue her roles of Minister for Women, Government Services, and the Public Service, and Finance Minister.

Gallagher has been a Senator for the ACT since 2014.

She is a close adviser to the PM and held the key role of managing Labor’s legislation in the Senate in both Government and Opposition.

Tanya Plibersek

Tanya Plibersek will become Minister for Social Services.

Plibersek has held the inner-city electorate of Sydney since 1998.

In the last term of Parliament, she was the Minister for the Environment and Water.

She has previously served as Minister for Housing, Women, and Health.

Mark Butler

Mark Butler will continue his role as Health Minister, taking on the portfolios of the NDIS, aging and disability.

Butler has represented Adelaide’s western suburbs since 2007.

As Health Minister in the last term of Parliament, he headed the Government’s campaign against vaping, including new laws banning their sale outside of pharmacies.

Michelle Rowland

Michelle Rowland will swap the portfolio of Communications for the role of Attorney-General.

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Rowland takes over from Mark Dreyfus, who had held the portfolio in Opposition and Government from 2013.

The replacement was the result of factional (sub-groups formed around
political interests) agreements.

Murray Watt

Queensland Senator Murray Watt has moved into the Environment and Water portfolio, taking over from Tanya Plibersek.

Watt was the Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations in the last government.

He will now be tasked with negotiating reforms to overhaul the national environment laws. Albanese has vowed to pass the reforms this term.

Anne Aly

Western Australia MP Anne Aly has been named as Minister for Small Business, International Development, and Multicultural Affairs.

Aly has been promoted to cabinet after serving in the outer ministry as Early Childhood Education Minister. She spearheaded three days of subsidised childcare for lower and middle-income families earlier this year.

Aly will be the only Muslim MP in cabinet.

Other reshuffles

Science and Industry Minister Ed Husic lost his Cabinet spot in factional negotiations. NSW Senator Tim Ayres will take Husic’s portfolios.

Annika Wells will take over Communications, which was previously held by the now-Attorney-General Michelle Rowland.

Amanda Rishworth will take on the portfolio of Employment and Workplace Relations.

There will also be some new faces in Labor’s senior ranks.

Sam Rae

Victorian MP Sam Rae has been promoted to the ministry as the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors.

Rae was a former Labor Party state secretary in Victoria.

He first entered Parliament in the then-newly created seat of Hawke in the 2022.

Rae’s promotion is a result of negotiations between internal Labor Party factions.

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Jess Walsh

Victorian Senator Jess Walsh has been promoted to Minister for Early Childhood Education and Youth.

Walsh has been a Labor Senator since 2019, and was a union boss before entering Parliament.

She takes over the outer ministry role from Western Australian MP Anne Aly.

Rebecca White

Rebecca White, who won the Tasmanian seat of Lyons at this election, will be the Assistant Minister for Women, Health and Aged Care, and Indigenous Health.

White is serving her first term in Federal Parliament after 14 years in Tasmania’s State Parliament, including seven as Labor leader.

After losing a third consecutive state election in 2024, White stepped down as party leader.

Peter Khalil

Victorian MP Peter Khalil has been elevated to the Cabinet as Assistant Defence Minister.

He faced a close contest in his inner-north Melbourne seat of Wills against former state Greens leader Samantha Ratnam.

He’s held the seat since 2016.

Khalil had previously been appointed as Labor’s envoy for social cohesion.

Daniel Mulino

Victorian MP Daniel Mulino has been promoted to Assistant Treasurer.

He takes over the role from retiring MP Stephen Jones.

Mulino has been a Labor MP in the western Melbourne seat of Fraser since 2019.

Before entering politics, he worked as an economist, earned a PhD from U.S. uni Yale, and wrote a book on macroeconomics.

Special envoys

Albanese has appointed two new ‘special envoys’. This job involves advising the Government on a particular area and advocating for a specific cause or group of people.

In this term of Parliament, NSW MP Dan Repacholi, who was first elected in 2022, will be the special envoy for men’s health. Repacholi has represented Australia at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne-based MP Josh Burns has been named as the housing and homelessness envoy.

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