Stephen Jones the fourth federal Labor minister to quit
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has become the latest of a growing number of government ministers to quit politics, the 60-year-old making a shock announcement on Thursday.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has become the latest of a growing list of Albanese government ministers to quit politics, with the 60-year-old omitting to say why he had decided to resign in a shock announcement on Thursday.
First elected to the then-seat of Throsby in 2010, Mr Jones was given the job of Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services in 2022, his first ministerial appointments.
Despite being yet to secure the support needed for key superannuation reforms that would increase concessional tax rates for super balances worth more than $3m, or progress new laws to tax social media companies that didn’t pay journalists for their work, he said he had decided to leave parliament.
Mr Jones, whose NSW seat of Whitlam takes in the Illawarra and Southern Highlands, said it had been an “enormous honour” to serve as a local MP and minister under Anthony Albanese, who he described as a friend of many decades.
“Well, 15 years is a long time ... And I have just reached this stage in my life where it is time for me to do something ... else,” he said in a speech delivered at Shellharbour with his family.
“I don’t know what that is yet.”
Whitlam is held by a margin 8.3 per cent.
Mr Jones said he was confident the Labor Party would select a candidate to replace him who would “uphold the values and stand for the things that people in this region need”.
Labor sources said they expected any candidate put forward by the NSW Left to replace Mr Jones would be uncontested by the Right.
Mr Jones’s resignation follows that of Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor mid-last year, and NDIS minister Bill Shorten, who quit politics this month.
“It has been a long journey but a great one ... together we have done lots of things,” Mr Jones said. “It is of great pride to me that we are prioritising TAFE and to ensure whether you go to university or take up a trade, you have a path in life which is going to give you a secure and decent job.
“We’ve got full employment, something I haven’t seen in my adult lifetime. And as a minister I’ve been really proud to prioritise consumer protections, new rights and new methods for consumers to ensure that whether it is at the supermarket or online, their rights are protected and their money is kept safe.”
Mr Jones has stridently spoken about LGBTQ issues, delivering an impassioned speech about the then Morrison-government’s religious discrimination bill, which he warned sent a dangerous message to children.
His exit comes just weeks from the government’s scheduled March budget and an election that must be held by May 17.
Cost-of-living and economic management will be key features of the election, with better-than-expected inflation figures released on Wednesday prompting hopes within Labor that a rate cut in February or March could be a vote-winner.
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