Sinodinos prepares to replace Hockey as ambassador to US

Arthur Sinodinos confirms he will leave the Senate in November to take up US post.

NSW senator Arthur Sinodinos will step down in November before becoming the next Australian ambassador in Washington. Picture: Britta Campion

Arthur Sinodinos has confirmed he will leave the Senate in ­November in preparation for taking up the Australian ambassadorship in Washington.

Senator Sinodinos wrote to Liberal NSW director Chris Stone on Friday announcing his departure so the preselection process to replace him could begin.

But Scott Morrison’s choice of a replacement, Jim Molan, is no certainty to return to the ­Senate, factional chiefs say.

Despite having the Prime Minister’s backing, there is ­lingering resentment towards Mr Molan in some sections of the NSW Liberal Party after he urged people to disregard the Coalition’s Senate ticket during the federal election and vote below the line for individual candidates.

Senator Sinodinos, 62, leaves parliament after eight years. He has battled cancer, an ICAC ­inquiry over his directorship of Australian Water Holdings and has been on the right and wrong side of leadership challenges.

The veteran chief of staff to prime minister John Howard ­admitted on Friday to some “ups and downs” as a senator but said it had been a privilege.

“I spent three or four decades in and around politics. That has been quite a stretch,” he said.

He said of departing ­ambassador Joe Hockey: “I think he’s performed well and established a good personal relationship with the people in the administration and the congress. Joe’s an extrovert and I think that always helps.”

Mr Sinodinos said of Mr Morrison’s recent trip to the US: “It helped to show the world how strong the ties between the two countries are, based on mutual interest and the national interest.

“It’s important to have a personal relationship but the foundation of that is the strong national ­interest in having the US as a major strategic partner in Asia.”

Senator Sinodinos said it was important that Australia and the US were involved in new areas of co-operation, whether it be through the Australian Space Agency or in terms of collaboration on rare earth and critical minerals.

His own work as industry minister in setting up a review that led to the agency was the highlight of his political career.

Party sources said one reason Mr Molan was being pushed as a replacement is he had agreed to serve only two years in the Senate spot, whereas other candidates would want longer, setting the scene for damaging future preselection contests.

One right-wing source said: “We’re not 100 per cent behind him. He hasn’t done anything for the conservative movement, I don’t feel.”