Chris Steel is expected to be appointed treasurer in Chief Minister Andrew Barr's new-look cabinet, the first to be assembled in more than a decade with no members of the Greens.
A significant shake-up of the ACT's public service is also in the works, with Mr Barr promising parliamentary committees would take on more policy development work instead of external consultants.
The Chief Minister hinted there would be fewer directorates in the ACT's public service, a sign Labor will move quickly to make changes to the machinery of government.
"I'll be making some administrative changes to the structure of ACT government, an element of that will be frontline services," he said.
Mr Barr said he would announce a ministry of eight Labor members on Thursday. Labor secured supply and confidence agreements from the ACT Greens and Thomas Emerson ahead of the Legislative Assembly's first sitting after the election.
The Greens walked away at the end of talks with Labor without securing the policy concessions the minor party said they would have needed to take up ministerial positions.
Suzanne Orr will return to cabinet after she was dumped to make way for Tara Cheyne in 2020, while Michael Pettersson and Marisa Paterson will take up ministerial roles for the first time.
The two newest Labor MLAs - Caitlin Tough and Taimus Werner-Gibbings - will sit on the backbench, Mr Barr said.
Ms Tough and Mr Werner-Gibbings would have a very heavy workload because they would need to sit across every single Assembly committee, he said.
Mr Barr said there would be a particular focus on the role the Legislative Assembly, and its committees, would play in undertaking investigative and policy work to advise government.
"If I could couch it in the terms of less outsourcing to expensive consultants to undertake policy work for us and more policy work being undertaken inside the public service and by parliamentarians through the Assembly committee process," he said.
"We have this available resource of Assembly committees. We have felt over the last few terms that that has been perhaps used for political point-scoring purposes a little bit more than policy development purposes."
Mr Barr on Wednesday also gave his strongest indication to date he was ready to give up the treasury portfolio after 13 years.
"Our economics team that I'll announce tomorrow will be very focused on delivering the commitments that we have made with a view, also, to managing the territory's finances appropriately," he said.
Mr Steel was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2016 and has served in cabinet since 2018. Mr Steel has been responsible for transport since 2019 and planning since December 2023.
The Independents for Canberra party had said during the election campaign the same person should not serve as chief minister and treasurer at the same time, arguing the move threatened the integrity of democracy.
Mr Barr had said it was not uncommon for chief ministers in small parliaments to also serve as the treasurer.
Asked on Wednesday about funding new commitments in deals with the Greens and independents, which include additional park rangers and a strata and building commissioner, Mr Barr said the government would make "some tweaks in resources away from, you know, for example director-generals' salaries into park rangers".
The comment indicated Mr Barr was planning to cut the number of directorates. There are currently nine government directorates.
Frustration has grown in government ranks about the performance and make-up of the public service over the last term, given its role in issues including the failed human resources system upgrade that cost $77.7 million and was abandoned.
