Stuart Robert: Former federal minister to resign Gold Coast seat after 15 years in federal parliament
Former federal Minister Stuart Robert will quit federal politics within weeks, bringing down the curtain on a long and frequently controversial career. This is why he’s leaving.
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Former federal Minister Stuart Robert will quit federal politics within weeks, bringing down the curtain on a long and frequently controversial career.
The Fadden MP, who as Social Services Minister presided over the Robodebt saga and was a close confidant of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, said he will resign from federal parliament by letter “in the coming weeks”.
He cited family reasons for his departure, including looking after his elderly father and being there for his children, including one who is in year 12.
“There are pressing family matters – we lost mum during Covid which was sad and my dad is 86 so it is time to assist him with his substantial interests,” he said.
“It has to be family first and that has to take priority now after taking a back seat for the past 15 years.
“In that time I have only been to one of the boys’ sporting events and two concerts and I have been faced by what I have had to give up – my son is in year 12 and has gotten an academic award every six months since year 3 and I have never been there for one of them so I will be going to his last one.”
Mr Robert, who intends to remain on the Gold Coast, said he had not decided on his next career move but intended to remain closely involved in the LNP and his church.
The move, which has been anticipated within senior LNP circles since the May 2022 election, will trigger a by-election in his safe northern Gold Coast seat of Fadden which is expected to be held in the second half of the year.
The 52-year-old said he had only decided to quit within the past eight weeks and had spoken to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton about his future.
He praised Mr Dutton as a close friend and stood behind his leadership and opposition to the Voice to Parliament.
Mr Robert insisted he had no regrets about his career, which has frequently been dogged by controversies, most prominently his helping to set up and presiding over the Robodebt scheme, a Coalition welfare crackdown program which was later ruled by a court to be illegal.
Numerous people suffered after being wrongly sent government debt bills.
Mr Robert later admitted to a Royal Commission he had made false statements supporting the program despite believing it could be unlawful because he had “no choice” but to maintain Cabinet solidarity.
He had previously been forced to resign from Cabinet in February 2016 over a “private” trip to China involving a major Liberal donor and the Chinese government.
Just three months later it was revealed that three candidates at that year’s council elections had been bankrolled with $70,000 of funding from his LNP branch’s fundraising wing, the Fadden Forum.
This sparked an investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) which led to the 2017 Operation Belcarra hearings to probe the issue.
Mr Robert told the hearings he did not control the funds, saying he “couldn’t spend a cent” without permission from the LNP executive.
In 2018, Mr Robert again made headlines after his annual home internet bill, charged to taxpayers, was revealed to be close to $40,000.
He said he had been forced to use 4G because of poor internet connections at his home and paid the money back.
Mr Robert said he had “too few regrets to mention”.
“Politics is a tough game, I played it hard and so did Labor and I have few regrets, to quote a song, too few to mention,” he said.
“I have no bitterness and I don’t begrudge Labor for playing politics hard but they threw everything at me and they got nowhere as history records.
“That’s the rough and tumble of politics and you shouldn’t enter the game of politics unless you are prepared to take the hits and the move on.”
Mr Robert said his sole regret was not campaigning harder in the state seat of Gaven in 2017 which saw Labor’s Meaghan Scanlon get elected.
“We didn’t campaign hard enough and it gave Labor a foothold,” he said.
“We had been successful in keeping the Gold Coast as the last bastion of true small government liberal thinking and it would have been nice to keep it like that but full credit to Meaghan Scanlon, she got there and has entrenched her position so you have to respect that.”
Mr Robert’s departure is the second in the past month following fellow former Morrison Government frontbencher Karen Andrews announcing she was stepping down from shadow cabinet and leaving parliament at the next election.
The former Army officer was first elected to Parliament in 2007 and spent the first six years of his political career as an opposition backbencher before the Coalition returned to power in 2013.
He became a political kingmaker, playing a key role in removing then Prime Minister Tony Abbott from power in 2015, leading to his appointment to Cabinet as Human Services and Veteran Affairs Minister.
He later did the numbers for Mr Morrison during the 2018 Liberal Party contests which ended Malcolm Turnbull’s time in the premiership.
Mr Robert said his proudest achievements in office included creating the Australian Defence Force Superannuation service and securing funding for local projects including the upgrade of the M1, the Coomera Connector and the extension of the light rail to Helensvale.
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Originally published as Stuart Robert: Former federal minister to resign Gold Coast seat after 15 years in federal parliament
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