Australian PM Names New Cabinet That Drops Israel Critic

Albanese's second-term administration is the first Australian government since 2010 to have no Jewish Cabinet minister

- AGENCIES

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 in Gaza.

Albanese named the 30 lawmakers who will fill Cabinet and outer-ministry positions after his centre-left Labor Party won a landslide victory in the 3 May 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.

"I'm deeply humbled by the trust that was put into my government with the election and we certainly won't take it for granted," Albanese told reporters at Parliament House.

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.