'It's time to retire': Christopher Pyne quits politics
Christopher Pyne is quitting politics while he’s ahead, becoming the second of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ministers in 24 hours to confirm they are retiring at the next election.
The Defence Minister confirmed his exit after 26 years in parliament in a statement on Saturday morning.
“It’s time to retire while people are asking me to stay, rather than continue and end up later with people telling me to go,” Mr Pyne said.
“I’m confident that I leave my seat in good shape. I’m sure the Liberal Party will retain Sturt at the coming election.
“I have every confidence that the Prime Minister will lead the Coalition to victory when the election is held in May.”
Defence Industry Minister Steve Ciobo also confirmed on Friday he will quit at the May election and “do something else”, preferring to stand down from his ministry immediately.
Mr Morrison is expected to elevate Linda Reynolds to cabinet as defence industry minister, media reports say.
“Linda has the talent, the experience, the knowledge and the determination to get the job done,” Mr Morrison said.
Another senior Liberal, Craig Laundy, is also said to be preparing to quit politics. The former small business minister holds the marginal Sydney seat of Reid.
Mr Pyne has held his South Australian seat since 1993.
“As Minister for Defence and before that Defence Industry, I’ve been responsible for delivering the $200 billion build-up of Australia’s military capability, the largest in Australia’s peacetime history,” he said.
“I’m also grateful that the youth mental health initiative I created in 2006 called ‘headspace’ survived the Labor Government and has gone on to thrive and become a fixture in the mental health sector.”
The prime minister has already lost frontbenchers Kelly O’Dwyer, Michael Keenan and Nigel Scullion, who will retire from parliament at the May poll.
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop, who turned down a role in Mr Morrison’s cabinet, will also retire in May.
Mr Ciobo left his retirement announcement late in part to ensure an independent candidate wouldn’t have time to mount a challenge in his safe Gold Coast seat of Moncrieff.
He wanted a woman to replace him in federal parliament.
“I would love for it to be a women, I think there are some terrific women around who are interested in running for the seat,” Mr Ciobo told Sky News in an interview aired on Saturday morning.
As trade minister for several years Mr Ciobo said he was on the road for 47 weeks a year.
“Federal politics is anti family, full stop. Don’t let anyone ever pretend otherwise,” he said.
