Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson confirms retirement at next election, paving way for Amanda Stoker’s political comeback

A long-serving state opposition MP will retire at the next election, paving the way for the political return of high-profile former senator Amanda Stoker.

A long-serving state opposition MP has revealed he will retire at the next election, in a move that paves the way for the political return of high-profile former senator Amanda Stoker.

Member for Oodgeroo Mark Robinson used his budget speech on Friday to reveal shock retirement plans, declaring he wanted to make room for new energy and talent in the LNP party room.

He signalled a desire for a woman to succeed him, in a move set to be seen as the soft anointing of former senator Stoker as the preferred choice.

“Should they win at the election they would create history by becoming the first female MP for Cleveland/Oodgeroo on either side of politics,” Dr Robinson said.

“This is something I would dearly like to see as I leave.”

Dr Robinson is the first Queensland state MP to confirm retirement at the upcoming election.

There had been speculation Ms Stoker, now a host on Sky News, had been positioning for a political comeback with the household recently moving from Bardon in Brisbane’s leafy inner west to Wellington Point.

Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson will retire at the next election.

Party sources supportive of Ms Stoker cited her residency in the area and local work as a senator among the reasons which made her the “obvious choice”, and were confident the grassroots members would back her in a preselection vote.

“We’re sorry to see Mark go (but) there is a lot of local excitement about Amanda Stoker taking up the standard in the state parliament,” they said.

It’s expected former federal member for Bowman Andrew Laming will put his hat in the ring in the preselection race for Oodgeroo.

Dr Robinson, speaking in parliament, said he had made the decision not to recontest the 2024 election after “much deliberation”, noting he had been the local member since 2009.

He said there were four main reasons behind the decision including that he had given his best and achieved much of what he had set to do and wanted to “run other races outside the political sphere” that had been put on hold.

Amanda Stoker is believed to be in the running for preselection in Dr Robinson’s seat. Picture: David Clark

Dr Robinson also pointed to increasing grandfather duties and the need for him and his wife to care for their respective mothers, who are in their 80s and 90s.

“Announcing my intentions now, allows the LNP plenty of time to have the best local candidate for Oodgeroo out in the field, who can hit the ground running,” he said.

“We refuse to take for granted the strong support of local constituents over the last 14 years, and I am confident the next LNP candidate will work hard and have the trust of the people too.”

Ms Stoker, should she be successfully preselected, wouldn’t be the first former federal parliamentarian to make a switch to Queensland state politics.

Agriculture Minister Mark Furner was a Queensland senator during the Rudd-Gillard government, while Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath was the federal MP for Petrie during that time.