Anthony Albanese is optimistic about the Labor Party's future after meeting with his new-look leadership team.
Members of his shadow cabinet came together for the first time in Brisbane on Tuesday after losing an election Labor was widely tipped to win.
"For all of us, we have had a tough time in opposition, we wanted to be on the government benches," Mr Albanese told his front bench.
"We are disappointed but we're determined to make sure that the next time we gather after the next election, it will be in the government party room."
Labor hoped to pick up a handful of marginal seats across Queensland on May 18.
But instead, the party now holds just six out of 30 seats in the northern state, after losing the Townsville-based seat of Herbert and the outer-Brisbane electorate of Longman.
Labor is now looking to slowly rebuild its stocks following the wipe-out in the Sunshine State.
"It's appropriate we come here for our first shadow ministry meeting," Mr Albanese said.
The opposition leader is particularly keen to end division between voters in metropolitan areas and those in the regions.
"We need to stop this issue of trying to divide Australian against Australian," he said.
"All Australians are deserving of respect, that's the starting point. Once we do that we'll be a long way on the path to having a policy that can win the support of Australians wherever they live."
The shadow cabinet was expected to discuss its position on the coalition's promised tax cuts.
Labor supports the first part of the government's tax plans, which will provide extra tax relief for low and middle-income earners.
But it is yet to decide whether it will back the later stage of the government's package, to flatten the tax system by mid-2024.
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers is tight-lipped about the party's position.
Mr Chalmers said it was disappointing the government would not split the tax legislation.
"If they did split the bill, we would enthusiastically pass the first tranche of tax cuts, which favour people on low and middle incomes," he told the ABC.
"We also need more information on the rest of the tax package.
"We've been asking for more than a month now for a sense of how many billion dollars will go to Australians in the highest income tax bracket under their plan in stage three of their tax cuts. That's not been forthcoming."
The coalition has ruled out breaking up the legislation, which will come before parliament next month.
Mr Albanese will travel north to Mackay on Tuesday to meet with regional voters.
