Defence Minister Christopher Pyne is among two senior Liberal politicians expected to retire from politics at the next election
- Defence Minister Christopher Pyne has announced he is retiring at next election
- The Liberal moderate faction leader, 51, has been in Parliament since 1993
- He is the fifth cabinet minister who has announced they will be quitting politics
- Defence Industry Minister Steven Ciobo could take the retirement tally to six
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and another cabinet colleague Steven Ciobo are expected to retire from politics at the next election.
The senior cabinet minister will not contest his Adelaide seat of Sturt, which first won in 1993 when he was 25.
The 51-year-old Liberal Party minister, from the party’s moderate faction, would become the fifth cabinet minister to quit at the next election, with Mr Ciobo’s possible retirement taking the tally to six.
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne is expected to retire from politics at the next election
The married father-of-four has joined former Liberal Party deputy and foreign minister Julie Bishop in announcing his retirement from Parliament.
His cabinet colleagues Kelly O’Dwyer, Nigel Scullion and Michael Keenan have also declared they won’t be running at the next election, following more than 40 consecutive Newspoll losses for the Coalition government.
Mr Ciobo, the defence industry minister and an 18-year parliamentary veteran, tweeted on Friday he was looking forward to travelling to Indonesia within days to sign a landmark free trade agreement.
But The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday the Liberal National Party MP is ready to quit.
Defence Industry Minister Steve Ciobo is also expected to quit, which would take the retirement tally in the Morrison Government to six
The senior cabinet minister (right with Prime Minister Scott Morrison) will not contest his Adelaide seat of Sturt, which first won in 1993 when he was 25
The Queenslander was demoted from the trade portfolio after the August leadership spill when he ran for deputy.
A Queensland Liberal source told AAP he would be ‘surprised’ if Mr Ciobo retired from parliament as he was currently very active in fundraising for the election campaign.
South Australian Senator Simon Birmingham was asked on Friday if he expected any other frontbench colleagues to resign and he replied: ‘No.’
Mr Pyne recently revealed how hard he took last year’s spill and said he did not expect he could ever lead the Liberal Party.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said the resignation speculation showed the government had given up.
‘I think cabinet ministers retiring on the eve of an election shows that this is a government that has given up,’ he told reporters in Sydney.
‘I say to Australians, if the ministers in the government are giving up on the government, you should too.’