Anthony Albanese is set to promote two senators into his ministry, the Northern Territory’s Malarndirri McCarthy and Jenny McAllister from New South Wales, as part of a limited frontbench reshuffle to be confirmed on Sunday.The prime minister is expected to promote McCarthy and McAllister from their assistant ministerial roles into the ministry proper, after announcing on Thursday that two of his current ministers are stepping down.McCarthy would replace outgoing indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney, who announced her pending retirement on Thursday after more than two decades in state and federal politics, alongside skills and training minister Brendan O’Connor who has been in parliament since 2001.McAllister’s new position is less clear, with Albanese likely to take the opportunity of two retirements to rearrange some incumbents and possibly adjust the configuration of portfolios to freshen the ministry and address some political concerns.Announcing the retirements on Thursday, Albanese declined to engage in speculation on the changes that will flow from them.“This has been pretty orderly and the fact that this has taken place without a great deal of speculation shows how well the government functions,” he said.Immigration minister Andrew Giles is expected to be moved sideways into a new job after the government faced strong criticism of his stewardship. The opposition has repeatedly called for Giles to be sacked after a High Court ruling late last year that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful prompted the release of more than 150 detainees into the community, with some later accused of committing crimes.The retirements of Burney and O’Connor free up two left-faction positions in the ministry under the Labor arrangement that ensures proportional representation of the left and right factions. Both McCarthy and McAllister are members of the left, as is Albanese.McAllister, 51, entered Parliament in 2015 and is currently the assistant minister for climate change.McCarthy, 54, who is Indigenous, was a Labor member of the NT Parliament from 2005 until 2012 and entered federal politics when she was elected to the Senate in 2016.While Albanese’s ministerial reshuffle has officially been prompted by Burney and O’Connor announcing they will retire from politics at the next election and stepping down in the meantime, it also serves to refresh the ministry with less than a year before the government goes back to the polls.His rearrangements are driven by a complex series of considerations including the faction and states of origin of those departing and those vying for promotion.Linda Burney was the first Indigenous member of the NSW parliament and the first Indigenous woman in federal parliament and as another leading indigenous woman in politics, McCarthy was the obvious choice to replace her.But McCarthy hails from the NT and her elevation means she effectively takes the ministerial position now held by O’Connor, who comes from Victoria. McAllister fills the NSW vacancy that Burney’s departure creates.Albanese is likely to address the Victorian issue in other changes he makes to the ministry which will flow from the resignations and elevations.Promoting both senators addresses another issue that has caused problems for Albanese – the small number of ministers he has in the senate. Of the 30-member ministry 26 are in the House of Representatives and only four are senators, meaning they have had to represent all other portfolios between them both in parliamentary question time and in Senate estimates committee hearings.