The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, claims the ALP is "on track" to have the highest female frontbench representation of any opposition or government after Tanya Plibersek was elected deputy Labor leader, Penny Wong leader of the opposition in the Senate and 11 women were elected to Labor's frontbench.
The caucus ballot means Labor has almost double the female representation as the government's frontbench.
Labor's 11 female shadow ministers compares with the Coalition government's one cabinet minister and four women in the outer ministry. Shorten will now determine which of the 30 frontbenchers elected on Monday serve in the shadow cabinet and which in the outer ministry, allocate portfolios and appoint parliamentary secretaries. An announcement will be made on Friday.
Shorten said he wanted to "draw a line under the divisions of the past".
Plibersek, the daughter of Slovenian migrants, appeared emotional when she spoke of how her parents had come to Australia "with nothing but a suitcase each" and said in opposition Labor needed to defend its legacy, explain its vision and rebuild.
Six MPs and senators have been promoted to the ministry: Michelle Rowland who clung to the western Sydney marginal seat of Greenway in the September poll, the Queensland senator Claire Moore, the Australian Capital Territory MP Andrew Leigh, the New South Wales senator Doug Cameron, Queenslander Shayne Neumann and Victorian MP David Feeney.
Two leftwingers who voted for Shorten over his leftwing rival Anthony Albanese in the leadership ballot – Warren Snowdon and ACT senator Kate Lundy – have lost their frontbench spots. The rightwing Victorian senator Jacinta Collins also been demoted.
The Labor MP Laurie Ferguson tweeted that Lundy had done a "magnificent" job in the multiculturalism portfolio and described her demotion as "sad collateral payback".
Chris Bowen, who was Kevin Rudd's treasurer in the dying days of the former government, will stay in that job and Tony Burke will take the important tactical and parliamentary role of manager of opposition business.
Stephen Conroy is deputy Senate leader. Anthony Albanese could retain his old ministerial responsibilities, becoming shadow minister for infrastructure and transport.
The key Shorten backer Richard Marles is understood to be keen to take the shadow foreign affairs portfolio, after the expected announcement from the former foreign affairs minister Senator Bob Carr that he will be resigning from parliament – despite having contested the election just a month ago in the No1 position on Labor's Senate ticket. Carr did not renominate for the frontbench.
Shorten said he rejected "the assumption that merit is more located in the brains of men than women. I can't believe that it's not possible to have a greater proportion of your cabinet who are women."
He was revealed as Labor leader on Sunday after narrowly beating his rival, Albanese.
Shorten won 64% of the votes in the parliamentary caucus after nine members of Albanese's leftwing faction voted for the rightwing Shorten. Despite Albanese's stronger showing in the rank-and-file ballot it was enough to secure Shorten a 52% majority in the combined vote. The two ballots, from caucus and the members, held equal weight.
Parliament is expected to resume on 12 November with four sitting weeks scheduled.
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