Labor’s Ed Husic will step down from the shadow ministry to make way for New South Wales senator Kristina Keneally.
The party’s new leader, Anthony Albanese, had made it clear he expected Keneally to be among those put forward for promotion amid fears her own faction would block her.
Before a meeting of the New South Wales right on Wednesday, Husic said he would not be running for a frontbench role despite having “loved” being in Bill Shorten’s shadow ministry.
“Instead I’ll be backing my great friend Kristina Keneally for that spot,” Husic wrote on Facebook. “We need to ensure someone of Kristina’s enormous talents has the opportunity to make a powerful contribution on the frontline, in the Senate.
“In the aftermath of the federal election, there are things we need to do to rebuild our standing – especially in the place I love, western Sydney – and I’ll be doing just that.
“Appreciate everyone’s support – but let’s get moving to elect an Albanese Labor government.”
Albanese had earlier issued a thinly veiled warning to the NSW right to resolve the issue, saying he expected Keneally to be on his new frontbench.
“Kristina Keneally will be a part of my team as far as I am concerned, I have made that clear,” Albanese said as he arrived at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
“Kristina Keneally is a valued contributor to the caucus, she’s someone who was the first woman premier of NSW, she’s a very effective senator and I have made it very clear that in my view she is certainly worthy of a shadow ministry position.”
The former NSW premier had begun canvassing support from across the party to try to overrule her own faction if she was blocked from promotion.
Keneally could have tried to secure enough support from MPs across the party to knock off South Australian deputy Senate leader Don Farrell and take his role in a meeting of the full caucus.
Amid fears the move could spark a factional war within the party, Albanese insisted an election-winning team was more important than factional interests.
“Because what I want is after the next election, when I first visit Parliament House, is to drive up through another entrance – the ministerial wing,” he said. “And we can only achieve that if we have the best team, if we are united, if we are coherent in the views that we put forward, and I’m very confident that we can do that.”
