Australian PM Albanese reveals ministry following re-election

CANBERRA -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the first ministry of his second term following the May 3 federal election.

Albanese on Monday named his government's 30-member ministry after his Labor Party won re-election in a landslide result.

Of the 30 ministers, the vast majority have been retained from the previous term of parliament. Senior figures, including Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Treasurer Jim Chalmers, will continue in their roles.

Michelle Rowland, previously minister for communications, will become Australia's Attorney-General, and former Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has been moved to the social services portfolio, with her previous role filled by Murray Watt.

Rowland will replace former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus who was dumped from the ministry along with Ed Husic, former minister for science and industry, due to factional negotiations within the Labor Party.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell will continue in their roles from the previous term. Health Minister Mark Butler will also pick up the National Disability Insurance Scheme portfolio.

As of Monday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had declared Labor candidates as the winners in 93 out of the 150 seats that will comprise the lower house of the 48th parliament where the government will be formed.

The ABC said that Labor was leading the vote count in one of five seats still in doubt.

It marks the third time in history that a party has won more than 90 lower house seats at an election and the first time that Labor has done so. No party has ever won more than 94 lower house seats.

The governing party is also forecast to hold as many as 30 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate.

Albanese said on Monday that the Labor caucus, which consists of all the party's elected federal representatives, would be the biggest since the party was founded in 1901.

"I am deeply humbled by the trust that was put into my government with the election, and we certainly won't take it for granted," he told reporters in Canberra.

All members of the ministry will be sworn in by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, the official representative of the British monarch in Australia, at Government House on Tuesday morning.

"I intend to recommend to the Governor-General, Her Excellency, Sam Mostyn, the following make-up of the ministry to be sworn in tomorrow at 9 a.m. It will be followed by a full ministry meeting here in Parliament House," Albanese said.

Albanese said the re-elected Labor government will be "a caucus brimming with capacity, talent and energy in both the House of Representatives and the Senate."

He urged the elected members of his Labor Party to maintain a focus on working for all Australians after winning re-election, during the Labor caucus convened last Friday.