NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay has made the first appointments to her shadow cabinet, with frontbenchers Ryan Park and Walt Secord to swap responsibility for the health and treasury portfolios.
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Ms McKay will also have key ally Swansea MP Yasmin Catley serving as her deputy, after a deal was stuck on Monday that will give former acting leader Penny Sharpe the party's deputy leadership role in the upper house.
As jostling for frontbench positions continued, Ms McKay revealed she had agreed to a request by Mr Park to be appointed shadow health minister, replacing Mr Secord in the role.
He will take on the added responsibilities of homelessness and housing, which Ms McKay highlighted as her key priorities in her first press conference as leader, and manager of Opposition business in the Legislative Assembly.
Upper house MLC Walt Secord, who served as chief of staff former Labor treasurer Eric Roozendaal, will become shadow treasurer, while retaining the Arts portfolio. His promotion comes despite the fact he backed Ms McKay's rival, Kogarah MP Chris Minns, for the Labor leadership.
The appointments come ahead of a caucus meeting on Tuesday, where MPs will vote on key party executive positions. It is the first caucus meeting since Ms McKay's victory over Mr Minns in the leadership ballot on Saturday.
Ms Catley and Ms Sharpe, both members of Labor's Left faction, are expected to be backed for their respective roles by the Right faction at the meeting.
It follows a meeting of Labor's left caucus on Monday afternoon to resolve a looming split in the faction, after Ms Sharpe declared her intention last week to nominate for deputy leader.
Instead, Ms Catley, who was Ms McKay's chief lieutenant during the campaign, was endorsed uncontested for the deputy role, while Ms Sharpe was endorsed as Labor's deputy leader in the Legislative Council.
Under the deal, the Left takes the upper house deputy position from the Right faction's Mr Secord, who will not renominate for the role.
One MP said Ms Catley's promotion was a result of Ms McKay's emphatic victory.
"This is the first sign of Jodi stamping her authority," the MP said. "It's clear she wanted Yasmin.
"This is a demotion for Penny. She was the deputy leader and the interim leader."
Ms Sharpe, the party's most senior left figure, served as deputy leader to Michael Daley, and was appointed acting leader after Mr Daley's resignation in March following the state election.
However, another source said Ms Sharpe did not have the numbers, as MPs in both the Left and Right factions believed it was "no longer tenable" to have an upper house member as deputy leader.
Adam Searle, another of Ms McKay's inner circle, is expected to retain his position as the party's leader in the upper house.
The whips' positions in both houses will also be determined at the meeting.
Ms McKay defeated Mr Minns in the caucus by 29 votes to 21, and secured 63 per cent of the more than 11,000 rank-and-file votes.
The Sydney Morning Herald
