Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten will announce which positions he will give to his shadow ministry later this week.
Labor's Caucus has met to nominate their colleagues for the frontbench but Mr Shorten says he'll wait until Friday before saying who gets what job.
Amanda Cavill reports.
Bill Shorten won the historic Labor leadership ballot at the weekend despite a rebuff from the party's ordinary members, who were given a say for the first time.
The members overwhelmingly preferred Anthony Albanese with 60 per cent of their vote, but caucus had the final say, with MPs backing Mr Shorten 55 votes to 31.
The Labor caucus has elected Tanya Plibersek as deputy leader, among 11 women in the opposition frontbench team.
The caucus also re-elected Penny Wong as Senate leader and right faction powerbroker and former minister Stephen Conroy as deputy Senate leader.
Queensland MP Shayne Neumann and New South Wales MP Michelle Rowland will be first-time shadow ministers, while Chris Bowen is set to take on the shadow treasurer role.
Former ministers Senator Kate Lundy and Warren Snowdown have been relegated to the backbench.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former Foreign Minister Bob Carr were not given frontbench positions
Mr Shorten says some people are bound to be disappointed.
"But when you refer to people that are not in the shadow ministry I agree that would be incredibly disappointing. There are more talented people than places to serve. But what I also understand, what Labor people , Labor supporters expect is all of us in whatever position are privileged to serve in public life and all of us will continue to do so from whatever position they have."
Mr Shorten says he'll be announcing what positions people will hold on Friday.
Once the frontbench positions are finalised Mr Shorten says Labor will review its policies and the lessons learned from the election.
Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek says she intends to defend the legacy left for Labor by the previous government.
"I am proud of what we achieved in government. I am proud of the social reforms. I am proud of the strong economy that we led and I will be reminding people every day of those achievements that I am proud of and I know our colleagues are too. Our second task of course is to continue to explain and make a case for our vision for the future. Labor's values don't change our work for a strong economy and a fair society doesn't change."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has praised his new opponent's political acumen, saying he knows Mr Shorten will do his best.
But Mr Abbott has warned Labor that while it may have a new leader, the party continues to have policies rejected by most voters
"They're still in denial about the election result and if he wants to have a good start to his new job, he could begin by saying that he understands the people's verdict at the election, and the Labor Party will not oppose the legislation to abolish the carbon tax which will be the first item of legislation that the parliament considers."
There is still no indication when parliament will resume sitting.
But the Coalition says it will be introducing the legislation to repeal the carbon tax on the first sitting day.
Mr Abbott has indicated that a double dissolution election is not out of the question if the legislation is rejected by both houses.
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