Liberals jostle for high-profile portfolio vacated by Simon Birmingham, with announcement expected over Australia Day long weekend. Peter Dutton is expected to use the Australia Day long weekend to finally reshuffle his shadow cabinet, with the decision over who to fill the foreign affairs portfolio threatening to stir internal tensions in the lead-up to the federal election.
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The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, will formally resign from federal parliament next week to start a role at ANZ bank in February, creating a deadline for the opposition leader to rejig his frontbench ahead of the election, due on or before 17 May.
The manager of opposition business, Paul Fletcher, is also retiring at the election, opening up a second vacancy in the shadow cabinet. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email. Senior Coalition sources expect the reshuffle – which opposition MPs were expecting to occur as far back as mid-December – to be announced over the Australia Day long weekend.
Several shadow assistant ministers are also retiring, giving Dutton an opportunity to promote fresh faces from the backbench. Four names being mentioned internally as Birmingham’s possible successor are the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, former frontbencher Julian Leeser and the Liberal deputy leader, Sussan Ley.
