Legislative Council president Terry Stephens quitting state politics at 2026 election

A prominent Liberal is the latest in a string of politicians set to quit at the next state election.

Upper house president Terry Stephens is joining the list of senior Liberals quitting politics, by retiring at next election with a taxpayer-funded pension of more than $200,000 annually.

Mr Stephens will join former Liberal deputy leader John Gardner and frontbencher Matt Cowdrey in leaving politics at next March’s state election.

Elected to the Legislative Council in 2002 after working as a company director for 20 years, Mr Stephens, 66, was sensationally installed as upper house president in 2022 after Labor’s landslide election win.

The historic coup meant the Malinauskas government effectively seized control of both houses of parliament, needing only minimal crossbench support in the Legislative Council.

Legislative Council president Terry Stephens, who is quitting politics at the 2026 election.

Mr Stephens was elected to the upper house before generous parliamentary superannuation schemes were wound back in 2004, leaving him with an annual pension understood to be more than $200,000.

In a statement, he said he had “made the difficult decision not to run for a fourth term” and this “decision not to renominate was mine alone”.

“I’ve been humbled by the level of support I’ve had from my colleagues and indications that if I continued, they would be happy for me to be in the role that I’m in, which I cherish,” he told The Advertiser.

“However, I think the time has come when someone else should have an opportunity, and I’d like to take the opportunity to go on and do something else.”

Mr Stephens sensationally triggered an MP travel allowances scandal in 2020 and stood down as upper house president but was advised in February 2022, that he would not face prosecution.

The Liberal Party is now reviewing upper house candidate nominations ahead of next March’s election, with Ben Hood and Heidi Girolamo expected to top the ticket.

Their upper house colleague, Jing Lee, quit the party in January to sit as an independent.

A bombshell YouGov opinion poll, published exclusively by The Advertiser in June, showed Premier Peter Malinauskas storming towards a historic election landslide that would consign his Liberal rivals to a future-threatening two seats.

Originally published as Legislative Council president Terry Stephens quitting state politics at 2026 election