Dumped cabinet minister Ed Husic promises ‘constructive’ backbench role after fiery attack on Marles

Former cabinet minister Ed Husic has promised to be “constructive” from the backbench despite taking aim at his deputy leader in an explosive interview on Sunday. Dumped from the cabinet on Thursday, Husic blamed deputy minister and right faction heavyweight, Richard Marles, whom he accused of being a “factional assassin”. “The difficult issue here is that we’ve had barefaced ambition and a deputy prime minister [who] wields a factional club to reshape the ministry,” he told the ABC’s Insiders. “I think people when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin.”Neither Marles, nor the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, or others in the cabinet responded in public to Husic’s comments on Sunday. Before the election, nine of the 23 cabinet ministers – or nine of the 22 after Bill Shorten resigned – had not previously been in the Rudd or Gillard ministries.