Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion will not run at next federal election

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he has no more resignations in front of him as a third government minister quits in a week.

Labor leader Bill Shorten says the departure of a third government minister in a week is a sign Coalition MPs have “given up” ahead of the next election, as Prime Ministr Scott Morrison insists he has no more resignations in front of him.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, 62, on Saturday became the latest to announce he will be standing down, believing it’s simply time for him to go after being in parliament since 2001.

That came after Perth-based Human Services Minister Michael Keenan revealed on Friday evening he wouldn’t be running again, in order to spend more time with his wife and four children aged between six months and seven. Jobs and Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer will also be leaving politics at the next election, as she seeks to have a third child.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the retirement announcements shows the “government was barely limping to the end of its term.”

“This is a government where its members have given up and now they’re walking out the door,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

Australian Human Services Minister Michael Keenan won’t contest the next election.

But Mr Morrison said their reasons should be taken at face value, dismissing suggestions they could be inspired by perceptions the government is a “sinking ship”. He also denied the departures would hurt the Coalition’s chances of being returned to government at the next election.

“I don’t think that’s a very kind way to put it and I don’t think that really does respect to the decisions that they’ve made,” the Prime Minister told reporters in Canberra on Saturday.

“Both of these cases - because this is how it has been shared with me by both of these men - are about their own personal circumstances.

“We’ve had members retiring and not standing at the next election from both sides of politics and it means nothing more than that.”

When asked whether the frontbenchers bowing out could hit the government’s re-election chances, Mr Morrison simply said “no”.

“What I’ll be equally pleased to see is those that’ll come up and refresh behind them. All government’s refresh,” he said.

Senator Scullion was not as confident when the same question was put to him, saying he didn’t know what impact the retirements would have. But he and Mr Keenan said they were sure of the coalition’s ultimate success at the election, likely to be held in May.

“I’m very confident they will win,” Senator Scullion told reporters in Darwin.

The PM also sought to hose down reports he had been lobbying NSW MP Craig Laundy to stay in the fold, saying he caught up with him this week after arranging to do so while he was overseas over the break.

“I said let’s catch up for brekkie when you get back and that’s what we did,” Mr Morrison said.

Senator Scullion said on Saturday “it has been the greatest honour of my life to serve the people of the Northern Territory for the last 17 years in the Australian Senate”.

The Nationals Senate leader did not say why he had chosen to quit. While he is an NT Country Liberal Party member, he sits with the Nationals in Canberra.

“I thank all Territorians for their support over this time. I have been proud to be a member of the Country Liberal Party — the only party that truly represents the real territory,” he said.

“My path to public office wasn’t a conventional one. I was just an everyday fisherman and some time buffalo shooter and I raised my three beautiful children Sarah, Daniel and Luke on a fishing boat off the coast of Gove and North East Arnhem Land.

“John Howard famously said the Coalition is a very broad church and the fact that it has allowed a bloke like me to sit around its cabinet table shows just why it continues to be the party hardworking Australian families keep putting their trust and faith in.”

There is concern among Nationals MPs that an announcement has been made so close to an election, with most MPs already in campaign mode, and that the Northern Territory Senate seat could go to the Liberal Party.

- AAP