Former cabinet minister Ed Husic has promised to be “constructive” from the backbench despite taking aim at his deputy leader in an explosive interview on Sunday.
“I want to play a constructive role,” he told Guardian Australia.
But he added that he would speak out on “important” issues, no longer constrained by cabinet solidarity, the principle that all ministers express support for their collective decisions.
Dumped from the cabinet on Thursday, Husic blamed deputy minister and right faction heavyweight, Richard Marles, whom he accused of being a “factional assassin”.
On Sunday morning he told the ABC’s Insiders program he believed his role in publicly criticising Israel was a factor in his ousting from cabinet.
On Sunday afternoon he said he would continue to speak out.
“I won’t speak on everything but I will speak on the important things, the things my community and the country cares about,” he said.
“Robust debate occurred in some of the most successful long-term Labor governments. They thrived in that environment back then and we can right now.”
Husic had accused Marles of being a “factional assassin”, and said the prime minister should have intervened to save him.
“The difficult issue here is that we’ve had barefaced ambition and a deputy prime minister [who] wields a factional club to reshape the ministry,” he told the ABC’s Insiders.
“I think people when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin.”
Neither Marles, nor the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, or others in the cabinet responded in public to Husic’s comments on Sunday.
Husic and former attorney general Mark Dreyfus were dropped by the right faction.
The cabinet was oversubscribed with members of the New South Wales right faction, which forced Husic out, though he said he had volunteered rather than fight in a national ballot against his ministerial colleagues.
In Victoria, Dreyfus was moved to make way for younger and newer MPs to enter the ministry.
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Albanese has a highly experienced and mature cabinet, with many of its members having been a part of the Gillard and Rudd ministries between 2010 and 2013, including Chris Bowen, Mark Butler, Penny Wong, Tanya Plibersek and Julie Collins.
Before the election, nine of the 23 cabinet ministers – or nine of the 22 after Bill Shorten resigned – had not previously been in the Rudd or Gillard ministries.
During the election campaign, Albanese said some of his most senior ministers would remain in their portfolios – including Richard Marles, Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher, Penny Wong and Don Farrell.
It’s expected new ministers will receive calls on Sunday afternoon, with Albanese understood to be announcing the new ministry on Monday, ahead of their swearing in at government house on Tuesday.
NSW MP Michelle Rowland, a former senior lawyer, has been tipped to become the attorney general, replacing Dreyfus. Industrial relations minister and solicitor, Murray Watt, has also been mentioned as a possibility for the role.
Western Australian MP Anne Aly may join the cabinet, with the western state a crucial part of Labor’s win in 2022, having lobbied for an extra spot.
Senior ministers Mark Butler and Jason Clare may move to new portfolios, while Daniel Mulino, a new entrant to the ministry from Victoria and a Yale-educated economist, could fill the assistant treasurer role.
There has also been speculation that Plibersek will move from the environment ministry.
