Marise Payne is leaving but has long been ensconced in the political departure lounge

The way the federal Liberal Party would have you see it, the string of senior figures pulling the pin on their political careers mid-term or at the next election is merely a sign of healthy renewal.

The more honest explanation is that the party is struggling to replace its tired, outgoing MPs with new, energetic talent at a time when a tired political body is in desperate need of fresh faces.

Consider the latest example: after a year of speculation, senator Marise Payne, a senior minister under Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, announced on Friday her intention to formally resign from parliament on September 30.

Payne’s retirement will draw to a close a 26-year-career in the Senate, although she has been happily ensconced in the political departure lounge since the Coalition’s defeat at last year’s election.

Payne has barely said a word in the Senate since being consigned to the opposition benches. While she has been a member of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s senior team as shadow cabinet secretary, whatever that means, Payne has hardly been a shining recent contributor to parliamentary and public policy debates, which is particularly regrettable given she is one of the few moderates left in the party.

A preselection tussle is now under way to fill her soon-to-be vacant seat but the list of likely candidates is underwhelming. One of the leading contenders is former NSW cabinet minister Andrew Constance. Constance won praise for his candid response to the Black Summer fire crisis, but he failed to win the very winnable South Coast seat of Gilmore at last year’s election. Another likely candidate is leading No campaigner and Sky News favourite Nyunggai Warren Mundine, a former national ALP president who switched to the conservatives. Like Constance, Mundine also failed to win Gilmore, in his case at the 2019 election. The pair hardly constitute new blood.

Payne, a Liberal senator for NSW since 1997, served as human services minister in the Abbott government from 2013, before being elevated to cabinet and the defence ministry under Turnbull. She became foreign affairs minister after Morrison’s “miracle” 2019 election victory.

Her status as Australia’s first female defence minister and Australia’s longest-serving female senator is significant but the Herald has long taken issue with Payne’s ministerial performance.

In a written statement on Facebook announcing her departure (true to form, Payne announced her retirement through a form that permitted as little questioning from the media as possible), Payne lists what she described as 12 substantial policy achievements.

“Representing our nation in one of the most dynamic global strategic environments of our lifetimes was both challenging and rewarding,” she says in her statement. “I know that I left those roles with Australia regarded as a strong and capable partner, who stood on our own two feet, and most importantly, maintained and protected our national security, our democracy and our sovereignty in all that we did.”

Unsurprisingly, Payne’s resignation statement does not mention the spectacular policy fail that will define her tenure as foreign minister: the Morrison government’s inability to prevent China gaining a foothold in the Pacific via a landmark security deal with Solomon Islands. Instead of Payne flying to the Solomons to try to prevent the agreement being signed, a junior minister was dispatched. Penny Wong rightfully called the whole affair the “worst failure of Australian foreign policy in the Pacific”.

Payne’s departure now ups the pressure on Morrison to reveal his own plans for the future. The former prime minister was widely expected to leave parliament late last year or early this year but he remains on the backbench.

Of Morrison’s final cabinet, Josh Frydenberg, Greg Hunt, Stuart Robert, Alan Tudge and Ken Wyatt either lost re-election, did not stand for re-election or have quit in this term of parliament. Liberal cabinet minister Karen Andrews has stepped down from the opposition frontbench and won’t recontest the next poll.

Payne now joins the list headed for the exit. Plenty of MPs have gone but does the federal parliamentary Liberal Party feel particularly refreshed and renewed to you? We certainly can’t see it.

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