Liberal Alan Tudge officially resigns in federal parliament

The Liberals’ shadow education minister has just announced his retirement today amid suggestions the Victorian Premier could try to take the seat for Labor in the ensuing by-election.

Shadow education minister Alan Tudge has resigned from parliament citing the need to preserve his own health and protect his children from death threats, opening his suburban Melbourne seat of Aston up to a what is expected to be a hotly contested by-election.

“It’s not been an easy decision for me but it is necessary for my health and for my family, among other reasons. I have not taken this decision lightly,” he said, choking back tears in an emotional valedictory speech after question time Thursday.

Mr Tudge said that “serving as a member of parliament has been one of the greatest honours of my life” but also said that his children have “had to put up with things that no teenager should have to, including death threats.”

Mr Tudge has held the seat of Aston since 2010, and sat in a number of ministries including Human Services, Education, and Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs in the Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Aston, which was considered a safe seat before the May federal election, was retained by Mr Tudge despite a 7.3 per cent swing against him on a two-party preferred basis.

Sources have said Liberal Alan Tudge will announce his retirement on Thursday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Josh Frydenberg is said to be weighing his options regarding an expected Aston by-election. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Senior Liberal sources have said they fear a by-election will be hard for the party to win given the seat is currently on a margin 52.8 per cent.

Mr Tudge’s early exit from parliament initially ignited speculation about a return to Canberra of former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg who lost his seat of Kooyong in May.

While Mr Frydenberg is understood to have had advance word of the resignation and considered a possible return to politics, the former treasurer has ultimately ruled out running in any Aston by-election according to multiple reports.

Meanwhile, Labor insiders have speculated that if Daniel Andrews was to look at a move into federal politics the seat of Aston would be a very winnable option.

Given the short time required to find a candidate, senior Victorian Liberals have said they said it was likely the party’s candidate would end up being chosen by the party’s administrative committee rather than a ballot of the local members.

In recent weeks had Mr Tudge found himself under fire for his role in the robodebt scheme when he was human services minister, and spent several hours last week being grilled by the robodebt royal commission.

Mr Tudge said that he found it “unfathomable” that there were concerns over the legality of the scheme and said the question of its legitimacy “had not crossed my mind until I read about it in the newspaper, I think, following the federal court case (in 2019)”.

Originally published as Liberal Alan Tudge officially resigns in federal parliament