I’m not leaving over Turnbull: Craig Laundy explains his exit from politics

Craig Laundy has expanded on his exit from politics, saying he was never going to stay “because I had a career to get back to”.

Craig Laundy, left, says quitting politics came because of the toll it was taking on his family, although he remains disappointed former PM Malcolm Turnbull was ousted.

Liberal MP and key Turnbull lieutenant Craig Laundy says he is not leaving parliament due to the dumping of the former prime minister, and believes the Liberals can hold on to his marginal seat.

Mr Laundy announced last month, after weeks of speculation, that he would not run again in the federal Sydney seat of Reid and Scott Morrison has been sounding out high-profile candidates to succeed him to no avail so far.

The MP and pub mogul said he was leaving parliament mainly due to the toll public life had taken on his family, though he remained disappointed in the removal of Mr Turnbull last August.

“That wasn’t the consideration … I was never going to stay in it (politics) for ages because I had a career to get back to,” he told ABC radio.

“Prime Minister Morrison, upon taking the role, we chatted early and I told him that I was in some doubt … when I did make the decision he was extremely supportive.”

Both former NSW police deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas and television presenter Stan Grant has rejected overtures from the Liberal Party to run in Reid, which is held on a margin of 4.7 per cent.

But Liberals are feeling more confident about holding the seat following NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s success in metropolitan Sydney during Saturday’s state election.

Mr Laundy said he believed the Liberals could win the seat, but refused to name a preferred successor or if he wanted the next candidate for Reid to be a woman.

“Labor in Sydney are in a tough position … because a lot of the infrastructure that the state and federal Liberal governments have invested in for six years, we’ll start to see that opening,” he said.

Mr Laundy follows other high-profile Liberals into retirement including former foreign minister Julie Bishop, defence minister Christopher Pyne, and jobs minister Kelly O’Dwyer.