The new Labor leader, Simon Crean, has put four new faces into top front bench jobs but turned to one of his most experienced team members to help him take on the Treasurer, Peter Costello.

Bob McMullan, one-time minister who becomes shadow treasurer, is a key Opposition strategist, although less confrontationist than Mr Crean, who preceded him in the post.

In his line-up yesterday Mr Crean has moved to directly address Labor's problems on the outer fringes of Sydney and other cities.

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The outspoken Sydney MP Mark Latham takes a newly created position of spokesman on urban development and housing. He also becomes spokesman on assistant treasurer matters and economic ownership.

Mr Latham will accompany Mr Crean when he visits Sydney's west today - a symbolic gesture as Labor begins the daunting task of building its appeal to the "aspirational" voters of these areas.

Restored to the frontbench after promising to be a team player, Mr Latham continued to push the envelope yesterday, saying Labor would reduce union representation in its conferences - a position Mr Crean has only said will be reviewed.

Mr Crean has created an 18-member shadow cabinet within his 30-member frontbench. In government, Labor had a cabinet but scrapped it in opposition, making the frontbench unwieldy.

The new faces in the shadow cabinet are Kevin Rudd (foreign affairs), Craig Emerson (innovation , industry, trade and tourism), Julia Gillard (population and immigration) who will oversee whatever changes Labor makes to its previously bipartisan policy on boat people, and Kerry O'Brien ( primary industries and resources).

Mr Rudd yesterday joined Mr Latham, who is outside the shadow cabinet, in pushing along internal Labor reform, a major challenge facing Mr Crean. Mr Rudd said the 60-40 level of union representation at many Labor conferences must be changed to show that the ALP was "an open party".

The new deputy leader, Jenny Macklin, becomes spokeswoman for employment, education, training and science as well as co-ordinating the general policy overhaul.

Robert McClelland is the new workplace relations spokesman, while retaining the post of shadow attorney-general. The Senate leader, John Faulkner, gets the new home affairs job promised in the election campaign.

Media companies, pressing hard for the liberalisation of the cross-media and foreign ownership rules, will be heartened by Lindsay Tanner moving into communications.

In his book Open Australia, Mr Tanner urged changing these rules, provided the government fostered new media. The Senate, which Labor and the minor parties control, is the brake on this change.

Both Mr Crean and Ms Macklin yesterday described themselves as "conviction" politicians. Mr Crean said his frontbench represented Labor's "modernisation".

He pointed to health, now with Stephen Smith, as an area where the policy framework would needed to be rethought.

Carmen Lawrence is in the shadow cabinet in charge of Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation, while defence goes to the left-winger Chris Evans.

Mr Crean said the line-up was "not just a statement about the priorities in economic and social terms. It's also priorities in value terms - reconciliation, immigration, compassion".