The deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, has criticised Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to take ministerial responsibilities away from two of his female cabinet ministers in his post-election reshuffle.

She has also questioned why the prime minister made ACT senator and rising conservative Zed Seselja, who has opposed section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, the assistant minister for multicultural affairs.

“The idea that someone who actually is prepared to go on the record supporting a right to be a bigot, as the attorney general put it, has been given responsibility for multicultural communities?” she asked.

“I am not sure how that will work out.”



Turnbull’s new ministry was sworn in on Tuesday, with the number of cabinet ministers growing from 22 to 23.

All existing cabinet ministers have remained inside cabinet, but the Nationals Matthew Canavan has joined them, becoming minister for resources and northern Australia.

Labor has pointed out that that makes it the largest cabinet since 1975, when all ministers were in cabinet.

“But still no room for more women in cabinet,” Bill Shorten said.

Plibersek said the expanded cabinet demonstrated how weak Turnbull was because he had been forced to expand it to appease factional players.

“This is time when Malcolm Turnbull would normally, in the course, be at his strongest. He has just won an election,” she said.

“The makeup of this frontbench shows that he is worried that his colleagues are coming after him. He has to give jobs to enemies as well as friends.”

But the new cabinet minister, Canavan, is a Nationals MP – he is not a Liberal party conservative.

Conservatives have been losers from the election and from Turnbull’s reshuffle, because their numbers have diminished significantly.

Plibersek said it was disappointing to see that two female cabinet ministers had lost responsibilities.

The assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer, has had her small business portfolio taken away from her and given to Michael McCormack in the outer ministry. She remains assistant treasurer, but the portfolio has been renamed revenue and financial services.

The defence minister, Marise Payne, has lost some of her responsibility to Christopher Pyne, who has been handed a new portfolio of defence industry which will oversee the naval shipbuilding plan from the defence white paper.

“They are demotions,” Plibersek said. “They have had responsibilities taken from them. How can you interpret it any other way?

“They are going backwards in representation of women in the Coalition. That is a big problem for Mr Turnbull.

“He has fewer women to choose from when he is looking to promote women into the cabinet or the outer ministry because their numbers as a whole are going backwards,” she said.

In a post-reshuffle media blitz, ministers have claimed the Coalition government is united, with the trade minister, Steve Ciobo, saying liberals and conservatives were “pulling in the same direction” on budget repair and the veterans’ affairs minister, Dan Tehan, saying Turnbull had “got the balance right” in the reshuffle.

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, defended the makeup of the expanded cabinet on Tuesday, saying its 23 members were hard-working and it won’t be unruly.

He also said he was “very confident” the Liberal party would work hard to get more women into parliament.