My reasons are personal and are not attributable to the change in the leadership of the Labor Party this week. Former climate change minister Greg Combet has announced he will quit politics at the federal election, as Kevin Rudd struggles to patch together his new cabinet, a process described by one former minister as "a shemozzle." "[Mr Rudd] thought everyone would crawl back to him, and he has found it a little frustrating that they didn't all immediately jump up when asked," the former minister said. Some didn't jump to him at all. Mr Rudd's new ministry is set to be sworn in at 2pm on Monday, but plans to announce the new cabinet and outer ministry have been delayed because he has not been able to fill some crucial roles as quickly as he had hoped. Illustration: Matt Golding. He has publicly stated that anyone serving in ministerial positions under Julia Gillard and who wants to continue under his leadership will be welcomed. But following his successful leadership challenge on Wednesday night, Mr Rudd was confronted with a string of immediate resignations from the frontbench, including Peter Garrett and Craig Emerson. New Treasurer Chris Bowen, who managed Mr Rudd's return strategy, had been charged with making initial offers to some prospective ministers. He has spent the past few days on the phone to various caucus members, ministers and former ministers, but one responded with an outright "no" when asked to take on the contentious immigration portfolio. An hour before Mr Rudd's lunchtime media conference on Friday, discussions were still being held with former communications minister Stephen Conroy about rejoining the team. The ministry was not announced atthat time and Mr Rudd is still trying to coax Senator Conroy to serve in hiscabinet. Mr Rudd also wanted Mr Combet in his cabinet, but Mr Combet issued astatement on Saturday saying he would not re-contest his federal seat ofCharlton. ""My reasons are personal and are not attributable to the change in the leadership of the Labor Party this week, although this has provided a catalyst for my decision," he said. A Labor source close to the ministerial negotiations said the Prime Minister had found it "extremely difficult" to fill his frontbench and the wider ministry. "It has been a mess," the source said. He's had a knock-back or two; let's put it that way. The talent pool has shrunk, and those who are left don't all want to work with Kevin. Another senior Labor operative said: "You have had resignations and retirements. That is before you get to balancing representations in the ministry across the states, the factions and genders. And then there's the rewarding of supporters. But it hasn't gone to plan. One Labor MP said emotions were still high following Wednesday's axing of Ms Gillard, which was another factor leading to complications in forming the new ministry. "It's pretty raw right now," the MP said. The consensus is that we did the right thing in going back to Kevin, but so many of us are feeling quite low about how it all happened. Not everyone wants a ministry when we're so close to an election and we're worried about our own seats. The Prime Minister's office offered no comment.