MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his new Cabinet on Monday after former minister Ed Husic blamed his demotion on his own criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Albanese named the 30 lawmakers who will fill Cabinet and outer-ministry positions after his center-left Labor Party won a landslide victory in the May 3 elections.
Labor has claimed 92 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form government. As vote counting continues, Albanese said his government could hold as many as 95 seats.
Labor had never held more seats since the first Parliament sat in 1901, he said.
While Labor prime ministers allocate the ministerial portfolios, the party’s factional leaders pick the 30 lawmakers who will get them based on the proportion of seats each faction won.
The factional leaders dropped former Industry and Science Minister Husic, who was born in Sydney to Bosnian Muslim immigrants, and former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish.
Husic, who after the 2022 election became Australia’s first federal minister to be sworn into office on a Quran, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday that Albanese should have intervened to keep him and Dreyfus in Cabinet.
Husic said his demotion was in part punishment for his views on how Israel has waged war in Gaza.
“I think it’s been a factor in there. Would I do things differently? I don’t think so,” Husic told ABC.
“You can’t celebrate diversity and then expect it to sit in a corner and be silent. You need to speak up … for the communities that you care about,” Husic added.
Albanese did not directly answer when asked whether he had fought for either Husic or Dreyfus to remain in Cabinet.
Albanese said he had a ”constructive discussion” with Husic on Monday morning.
Bilal Rauf, an adviser to the Australian National Imams Council, called for Albanese to explain whether Husic’s demotion was due to his views on Gaza.
“I think at a minimum, some explanation is warranted. We can’t just leave it at explanations about factionalism,” Rauf said.
“If Ed says that’s a factor, I have no reason to discount that,” Rauf said. “It’s hard to deny that it likely is a factor.”
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said his advocacy group had enjoyed good relations with both Dreyfus and Husic.