Peter Garrett was sworn in as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, but his shadow portfolio had included Climate Change and Water, which went to Senator Penny Wong.

Three previous shadow ministers — Arch Bevis, Kate Lundy and Kerry O'Brien — were relegated to the back bench, while three others — Jan McLucas, Laurie Ferguson and Bob McMullan — were only sworn in as parliamentary secretaries.

On 25 February 2009, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a reshuffle of his Parliamentary Secretaries (the lowest ministerial rank), following the resignation of John Murphy.

It was prompted by Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon's resignation from cabinet after a series of embarrassing events and revelations harmed his reputation, along with a generally held view that his relationship with his department had irretrievably broken down.

Labor veteran Senator John Faulkner, previously Special Minister for State and responsible for the government's electoral reform package, was appointed to the role.

[7][8] On 14 December 2009, Duncan Kerr's appointment as Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance was terminated following his announcement that he would retire at the next election.