Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh has joined Julia Gillard's frontbench as the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister.
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Dr Leigh was quick to publicly affirm his support for the Prime Minister last week when Labor's leadership wrangling turned ugly.
This week he was publicly rewarded for his loyalty.
His promotion follows the Labor leadership spill that resulted in a number of Kevin Rudd supporters quitting their portfolios or being sacked by Ms Gillard.
In announcing sweeping changes to her ministerial line-up on Monday, the Prime Minister named Dr Leigh as her own parliamentary secretary. His role will have a focus on economics.
''Andrew will bring to this post his distinguished academic record in public policy and economics,'' Ms Gillard said.
Dr Leigh said he was honoured to be assigned the task.
''I'm delighted. This is a great opportunity to be part of the executive,'' he said.
''It is an honour to be an MP and represent my local community and I am now humbled even more at the chance to contribute further to the Australian government's reform agenda.''
Dr Leigh said he had no idea he would be getting the phone call from Ms Gillard asking him to take on greater responsibilities.
''You never know these things in advance,'' he said.
''The next election will have an economics focus and it will be my task to not only be involved in the big economic reforms but also to make sure the Australian people have a real informed choice.
''That means making sure we get properly costed policies from the opposition and not all the smoke and mirrors they're putting up now.''
The Member for Fraser, who was sworn into office on Monday afternoon, said he was unsure how many extra meetings his new job would demand of him, but he was determined to remain a highly visible and accessible local MP.
The first-term MP joined Labor's parliamentary ranks at the 2010 election and prior to that was a professor of economics at the Australian National University.
He has written extensively on taxation, education and social policy issues.
Dr Leigh holds a PhD in public policy from Harvard, after having graduated from the University of Sydney with first-class honours in law and arts.
He has previously worked as a lawyer, including a stint as associate to former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, and as a principal adviser to the Australian Treasury.
