Craig Laundy announces he’ll quit politics

Liberal member for Reid Craig Laundy will quit politics at the federal election.

Craig Laundy has ended his political career by adivising the Prime Minister and his team today that he would not be recontesting his seat of Reid at the upcoming federal election.

“The reality of modern politics is that, more often than not, a member of parliament has put their constituents ahead of their family, something I’ve done over the past six years,’’ Laundy said in a statement.

“It’s now time to focus on my family, who I have spent so much time away from.’’

Mr Laundy was elected to the seat in 2013 when the Coalition was swept to government under Tony Abbott and re-elected at the 2016 double dissolution election, with the outgoing MP saying it had been “absolute honour” to represent the people of Reid.

Mr Laundy was one of Malcolm Turnbull’s most loyal allies and stood down from the frontbench after Mr Turnbull was toppled in last August’s leadership coup. He served in a number of positions including as the minister for small and family business, the workplace and deregulation; the assistant minister for industry, innovation and science and the assistant minister for multicultural affairs.

Mr Laundy’s statement follows the announced political departures of former defence industry minister Steve Ciobo, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, Jobs Minister Kelly O’Dwyer and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion -- all of whom will leave at the next election.

Human Services Minister Michael Keenan and former foreign minister Julie Bishop have also announced they will not be recontesting their seats.

In his statement Mr Laundy said that over the past 12 months his family had faced a “number of challenges”.

“I’ve made the difficult decision to quit politics to put them first,” he said. “This was never just a job to me. It was an opportunity to serve the electorate that my family has called home for four generations.

“I’d also like to thank my Coalition colleagues who welcomed this Western Sydney publican with open arms into the world of politics, a world which was very unusual to me, but I’ve loved every minute of my chance to serve a community and country I love”.

“At a time where the vast majority of Australians see politics as fiercely divided, the irony is, I’ve made friendships that I believe will be lifelong on both sides of the chamber and am extremely proud of that”.

Selfish play would have been to stay in the game

To be clear, Laundy informed the PM that he would be quitting come the election when he turned down a ministerial portfolio after the leadership showdown last August. He was asked to delay the announcement — perhaps in the hope he could be convinced to change his mind.

For weeks there have been suggestions Laundy was spitting the dummy and leaving because of the way Malcolm Turnbull was removed as PM. That would be an entirely justifiable reason for the close Turnbull supporter to choose to leave. Especially given that unlike so many of his colleagues he actually has better things to do with his life than fly to Canberra half the year. And his doesn’t need an AAT appointment to give him something to do post politics like so many others.

But spite is not the reason Laundy is leaving.

Laundy faces a number of family health challenges which he understandably wouldn’t want to traverse publicly. Suffice to say they are reason — good reason — for a good man to call time on his political career and be able to spend more time at home and in the state where his loved ones are.

Yes his departure is bad news for the government. He won the seat off Labor in 2013 — a seat the Liberals had never held. He then increased his majority in 2016 when others saw their margins slip away. And internal polling still has Laundy in front despite all the problems, with Labor hoping he retires so that they can win the seat.

Claims that Laundy was delaying his announcement as some sort of spiteful play to make it harder for the Liberals to find a replacement in time for the election couldn’t be further from the truth. He was asked repeatedly to delay the announcement so that Liberals could find a high profile replacement. That has been difficult, with failed attempts reported by this paper, essentially because without Laundy running holding the seat is nigh impossible for the Liberals. In the end he decided to just get on with it and announce his retirement this weekend. But it leaked today.

The selfish play would have been to stay in the game of politics and rise who knows how far during the wilderness years of opposition. Returning to government (who knows when) as a cabinet minister or more. Instead Laundy is going back to his business and his family.

Peter van Onselen is a professor in politics at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.