Two senior ministers have announced their retirement from politics at the upcoming federal election, giving the prime minister clean air to announce a cabinet reshuffle.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor will step down at the next federal election, due by May 2025.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thanked the ministers for their service.
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“Two people who have made an outstanding contribution to our government and to our country are standing with me here today in Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor,” he said alongside the ministers in Sydney on Thursday.
“I am proud to call them my friends, I am proud to have witnessed first-hand their passion for this nation, their determination to leave the country better for their contribution as members of parliament and as ministers.”
They will step down from the ministry “to enable a refresh and enable some new ministers to be able to take their place and take us forward over the coming months before the election”, Albanese said.
The prime minister boasted of a united cabinet during his first two years in office.
“No government in living memory has had the same cabinet and ministerial positions for its first two years in office,” he said.
It clears the decks for Albanese to announce a widely touted cabinet reshuffle, with speculation Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is set to be sacked.
He has been under fire for his handling of a High Court case that led to the release of more than 150 immigration detainees.
A new ministry will be announced in Canberra on Sunday and new ministers will be sworn in on Monday.