Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will unveil a refreshed frontbench line-up in late January, with Bill Shorten’s exit from parliament opening the door to a junior minister being promoted, months out from the next federal election. Senior government sources, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, say Albanese is considering two options for his frontbench shake-up, with responsibility for Shorten’s former portfolios of Government Services and the NDIS to be handed on as the federal election is not due until May 2025. Anika Wells, Matt Keogh, Amanda Rishworth and Mark Butler are all being considered to assume outgoing Bill Shorten’s responsibilities. Credit: In the reshuffle, government sources said the first and more likely option was that Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth and Health Minister Mark Butler would be handed responsibility for one of each of the portfolios, with NDIS a better fit for Rishworth as the disability agency is part of her department. This would mean the number of cabinet ministers would shrink from 23 to 22 people. The second option being considered is promoting a member of the outer ministry, with Queensland-based Aged Care and Sports Minister Anika Wells and WA-based Veterans and Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh considered the frontrunners. Both are in the Labor Right faction, like Shorten. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton must also replace a senior shadow minister on his frontbench after opposition Senate leader and foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham announced on Thursday that he was quitting politics. The first details of how Albanese could recast his frontbench have emerged after a successful end to the parliamentary year for the government, which included the passing of 31 new laws on the final day , after months of delay and lengthy negotiations with the Coalition or the Greens and the crossbench. As parliament wound down for the year, Labor won Senate votes on housing, food prices and a ban on social media apps for under 16s, and other measures. Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers have to release a mid-year budget update before Christmas that could foreshadow more cost-of-living relief, while Dutton has hinted at more detail on the opposition’s nuclear and housing policies before Christmas too. Either scenario would mean that Victoria’s influence around the cabinet table would be reduced with Shorten’s exit, but Labor hopes to gain seats in Queensland and hold on to the swag of seats it picked up in Western Australia in 2022. Promoting a talented new minister from Queensland or WA is seen, internally, as tactically astute and unlikely to cause a fuss, whereas promoting another NSW MP to cabinet at the expense of Victoria would likely put noses out of joint. Shorten’s combined portfolios of the NDIS and Government Services were given to him when Labor won government as he had been one of the disability insurance scheme’s earliest champions. He had also been a frontrunner in pursuing and supporting the robo-debt royal commission, which made Government Services a natural fit. The government sources said the prime minister would ponder the changes during a short Christmas break. Dutton, like Albanese, is expected to be back at work by early January as both men gear up for what is widely expected to be a close election in which a hung parliament is considered a distinct possibility given the size of the crossbench. Both leaders are also planning, at this stage, to make major policy announcements in the second half of January, with a prime ministerial appearance at the National Press Club around Australia Day pencilled in and some members of both main parties anticipating an election to be called days later, though Albanese has indicated he is leaning towards May. The most recent Resolve Political Monitor conducted for this masthead in early November showed the opposition’s primary vote had risen by one percentage point to 39 per cent, while Labor’s held steady at 30 per cent. These primary votes would deliver either major party, at best, a razor-thin majority in the next parliament. While Dutton will feel the loss of Birmingham, a former finance, education, trade and tourism minister at various times under Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull, the need to replace a foreign affairs spokesperson heading into a domestic political campaign is less urgent. While Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley and shadow cabinet ministers Jane Hume, James Paterson and Dan Tehan have all been put forward as possible replacements for Birmingham , moving shadow ministers from domestic portfolios months out from an election could disrupt the shadow expenditure review committee process that is now working on election policies. Another option would be for Dutton to take the portfolio in a caretaker capacity, or for former shadow cabinet minister Julian Leeser to be returned to the frontbench while former ambassador and foreign policy wonk Dave Sharma would be handed an assistant role. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter .None

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Article content Toronto FC has left designated player Lorenzo Insigne unprotected in the MLS expansion draft, knowing the Italian star’s big-ticket salary will likely deter expansion San Diego FC. Recommended Videos MLS teams are allowed to protect 12 players from their senior and supplemental rosters for Wednesday’s draft. San Diego can select up to five players from the eligible pool of players, but can only take one from any one club. Insigne is the biggest name on the list — and the biggest paycheque. The 33-year-old former Napoli captain, whose salary of US$15.4 million was second only to Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi (US$20.5 million) this season, had four goals and seven assists in 23 league appearances in an injury-interrupted season. Toronto has gone this route before, making Julian de Guzman, the first designated player in club history, available in both the 2010 (Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers) and 2011(Montreal) expansion drafts. De Guzman went unchosen — no doubt due to his salary of $1.72 million and $1.91 million, respectively. Toronto had to protect fellow Italian designated player Federico Bernardeschi, whose salary of US$6.295 million ranked fifth in the league, because he has a no-trade clause in his contract. MLS rules state that players with such clauses must be protected during expansion drafts. Toronto’s available list includes Aime Mabika, Shane O’Neill, Prince Owusu and Greg Ranjitsingh, whose options for 2025 were not picked up. Also available is midfielder Cassius Mailula, who is on loan with Moroccan club Wydad Athletic Club through July 2025 with an option to make the transfer permanent. Honduran international midfielder Deybi Flores and defenders Raoul Petretta and Sigurd Rosted, who all saw plenty of action this season, were also made available. Flores may be less attractive to another club because his 2025 salary budget charge comes with some payments resulting from his original transfer. So TFC elected to make him available while holding on to other players who come at a bargain rate. Petretta (US$$754,750 this season) and Rosted (US$755,000) come with big salaries. CF Montreal did not protect designated player Victor Wanyama, a 33-year-old midfielder whose contract expires at the end of the year. Wanyama saw action in just 12 league games this season (four starts) and last played May 12 in a Canadian Championship outing. Other Montreal players made available include Gabriele Corbo, Grayson Doody, Raheem Edwards, Ilias Iliadis, Lassi Lappalainen, Josef Martinez, Matteo Schiavoni and Robert Thorkelsson, all of whose 2025 contract options had previously been declined. Logan Ketterer is out of contract at the end of the year. Available Whitecaps include Damir Kreilach, Fafa Picault, Ryan Raposo and Alessandro Schöpf. The team had previously announced it did not plan to exercise the 2025 options for Schöpf and Picault with Raposo’s contract expiring at the end of the year. Kreilach, 35, made US$400,000 this season. San Diego’s roster currently numbers seven players. In June, the club announced Hirving (Chucky) Lozano as its first designated player, signing the Mexican international winger to a four-year contract with two option years in a Jan. 1, 2025, transfer from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. Others on the San Diego roster are U.S. youth international goalkeeper Duran Ferree, Northern Ireland international defender Paddy McNair, American winger Alex Mighten, Danish holding midfielder Jeppe Tverskov, Colombian forward Tomas Angel and Danish international forward Marcus Ingvartsen. Angel is the son of former Colombia star Juan Pablo Angel, who played in MLS for the New York Red Bulls, Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA as well as Aston Villa in England, Atletico Nacional in Colombia and River Plate in Argentina. San Diego’s coach is Mikey Varas, a former U.S. under-20 coach and senior assistant coach. Tyler Heaps doubles as sporting director and general manager. The 33-year-old Heaps, whose fiancee is U.S. captain Lindsey Horan, is Major League Soccer’s youngest sporting director. The club ownership includes San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado. San Diego will kick off its inaugural season at the MLS champion Los Angeles Galaxy Feb. 22-23 with its home opener March 1 at Snapdragon Stadium against St. Louis City FC. Clubs that lose a player in Wednesday’s expansion draft will receive US$50,000 in general allocation money. Generation Adidas players who occupy roster slots 21-24 and homegrown players 25 years old and under are automatically protected. Trades can alter the outcome of the draft. For example, Canadian defender Kamal Miller was taken by expansion Austin FC in 2020 and then traded to Montreal for up to US$275,00 in general allocation money and a first-round pick (11th overall) in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. — Available Players on Canadian Teams in Expansion Draft CF Montreal: Matias Coccaro, Gabriele Corbo, Grayson Doody, Raheem Edwards, Ilias Iliadis, Logan Ketterer, Lassi Lappalainen, Josef Martinez, Matteo Schiavoni, Joaquin Sosa, Robert Thorkelsson, Victor Wanyama, Rida Zouhir. Toronto FC: Nathaniel Edwards, Deybi Flores, Lorenzo Insigne, Aime Mabika, Cassius Mailula, Shane O’Neill, Prince Owusu, Jordan Perruzza, Raoul Petretta, Greg Ranjitsingh, Sigurd Rosted, Charlie Sharp. Vancouver Whitecaps: Joe Bendik, Giuseppe Bovalina, Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau, Belal Halbouni, Levonte Johnson, Damir Kreilach, Luis Martins, J.C. Ngando, Fafa Picault, Ryan Raposo, Alessandro Schöpf, Yohei Takaoka, Bjørn Utvik.REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Icelanders will elect a new parliament Saturday after disagreements over immigration, energy policy and the economy forced Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson to pull the plug on his coalition government and call early elections. This is Iceland’s sixth general election since the 2008 financial crisis devastated the economy of the North Atlantic island nation and ushered in a new era of political instability. Opinion polls suggest the country may be in for another upheaval, with support for the three governing parties plunging. Benediktsson, who was named prime minister in April following the resignation of his predecessor, struggled to hold together the unlikely coalition of his conservative Independence Party with the centrist Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement. Iceland, a nation of about 400,000 people, is proud of its democratic traditions, describing itself as arguably the world’s oldest parliamentary democracy. The island’s parliament, the Althingi, was founded in 930 by the Norsemen who settled the country. Here’s what to look for in the contest. How does the election work? Voters will choose 63 members of the Althingi in an election that will allocate seats both by regional constituencies and proportional representation. Parties need at least 5% of the vote to win seats in parliament. Eight parties were represented in the outgoing parliament, and 10 parties are contesting this election. Turnout is traditionally high by international standards, with 80% of registered voters casting ballots in the 2021 parliamentary election. Why now? A windswept island near the Arctic Circle, Iceland normally holds elections during the warmer months of the year. But on Oct. 13 Benediktsson decided his coalition couldn’t last any longer, and he asked President Halla Tómasdóttir to dissolve the Althingi. “The weakness of this society is that we have no very strong party and we have no very strong leader of any party,’’ said Vilhjálmur Bjarnson, a former member of parliament. “We have no charming person with a vision ... That is very difficult for us.” Why is Iceland's politics so fractured? The splintering of Iceland's political landscape came after the 2008 financial crisis, which prompted years of economic upheaval after its debt-swollen banks collapsed. The crisis led to anger and distrust of the parties that had traditionally traded power back and forth, and prompted the creation of new parties ranging from the environment focused Left-Green Alliance to the Pirate Party, which advocates direct democracy and individual freedoms. “This is one of the consequences of the economic crash,’’ said Eva H. Önnudóttir, a professor of political science at the University of Iceland. “It’s just the changed landscape. Parties, especially the old parties, have maybe kind of been hoping that we would go back to how things were before, but that’s not going to happen.” What are the issues? Like many Western countries, Iceland has been buffeted by the rising cost of living and immigration pressures. Inflation peaked at an annual rate of 10.2% in February 2023, fueled by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While inflation slowed to 5.1% in October, that is still high compared with neighboring countries. The U.S. inflation rate stood at 2.6% last month, while the European Union’s rate was 2.3%. Iceland is also struggling to accommodate a rising number of asylum-seekers, creating tensions within the small, traditionally homogenous country. The number of immigrants seeking protection in Iceland jumped to more than 4,000 in each of the past three years, compared with a previous average of less than 1,000. What about the volcano? Repeated eruptions of a volcano in the southwestern part of the country have displaced thousands of people and strained public finances. One year after the first eruption forced the evacuation of the town of Grindavik, many residents still don’t have secure housing, leading to complaints that the government has been slow to respond. But it also added to a shortage of affordable housing exacerbated by Iceland’s tourism boom. Young people are struggling to get a foot on the housing ladder at a time when short-term vacation rentals have reduced the housing stock available for locals, Önnudóttir said. “The housing issue is becoming a big issue in Iceland,'' she said. —— Kirka reported from London. Marco Di Marco And Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

Iceland votes for a new parliament amid disagreements on immigration, energy policy and the economyItuka scores 18 off the bench, Jacksonville State downs East Carolina 86-78