Christopher Pyne expected to quit after two decades in Australian politics
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Senior Cabinet minister and long-serving Liberal Christopher Pyne is expected to retire at the next election.
The 51-year-old South Australian MP has spent half his life in federal politics and been a senior figure within the party for the last decade.
Multiple well placed sources have told the ABC the Defence Minister will announce his retirement tomorrow.
He dismissed speculation but refused to rule out an impending retirement when asked about it on Sky News today.
The ABC has contacted Mr Pyne for comment.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-01/christopher-pyne-to-quit-politics-at-federal-election/10852964
It's 26 years since Christopher Pyne walked into Parliament House as its youngest MP, to a scandalised general gasp generated by the then-whippersnapper's gory elimination of his Liberal predecessor in the seat of Sturt.
Over the intervening quarter of a century, Pyne has been in and out of government, in and out of the dogbox with this century's merry-go-round of prime ministers. But he's never been far from the action.
His resignation has been rumoured for months, and diplomatically demi-denied by the man himself repeatedly in a special form of words with built-in escape flap: "It is my intention to contest the seat of Sturt at the next election."
But the denials have dried up, and Mr Pyne — given multiple opportunities — isn't contesting widespread speculation that he will pull the pin.
The failure of Christopher Pyne to fill a televisual vacuum is a once-in-a-lifetime event on a par with the Menindee fish kill, which is what — along with other clues — leads your correspondent to accept that the Member for Sturt is indeed in the departure lounge.
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As parliamentary secretary for health, Mr Pyne legalised the importation of Roquefort cheese, observing that French people were more likely to die from being hit by a falling round of the product than from consuming it, and Australians would benefit from having the choice to eat the unpasteurised delicacy.
He also was instrumental in establishing Headspace, the youth mental health scheme, campaigned passionately for the republican "yes" cause, and pursued the return of Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy's remains to Australia.
Aslan was a big clue
In the dying days of the Howard government, Mr Pyne was appointed minister for aged care, in a latent demonstration of Mr Howard's sense of humour matched only by the appointment of fellow moderate and notorious bookworm George Brandis to the Ministry of Sport.
But it was in opposition, during the Rudd and Gillard years, that Mr Pyne's star rose in the Liberal Party. Never again did he estrange himself from a serving leader the way he had from John Howard; Mr Pyne made himself indispensable to Brendan Nelson, to Malcolm Turnbull, to Tony Abbott (an old friend and regular dining companion for many years, odd as this might seem), and to Mr Turnbull again
He became a nimble and expert manager of parliamentary business, maintaining — notably — a warm relationship with his opposite number, Labor's Anthony Albanese.
While Mr Pyne has remained as the Government's Leader of the House under Scott Morrison, his recent interview mourning the loss of Mr Turnbull and likening him to Aslan — the slain, Christ-like hero of CS Lewis' Narnia novels — was a beefy clue that the magic had gone out of politics for him.
Mr Pyne was the minister who claimed — in a YouTube classic — to have "fixed" the higher education system. And the Defence Minister who claimed to have presided over a halcyon age in Defence spending.
But his principal legacy is in the art of politics itself, managing the House of Representatives in opposition and in government over two hung parliaments.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-01/christopher-pyne-legacy-art-of-politics-annabel-crabb/10862568
A shame we won’t see more moments like this
https://youtu.be/0HfnbGKXqgE
