One of the Morrison Government‘s most senior officials, Christopher Pyne, is reportedly set to announce his retirement from politics as early as tomorrow, according to multiple reports this afternoon.
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Pyne, currently serving on the Morrison frontbench as the Minister for Defence, will walk away from Federal Politics at the upcoming election, making him the latest in a string of Federal Liberal Party MPs to walk away from politics altogether as the Coalition continues to further fracture.
Reports from the ABC suggest Pyne will announce his intention to retire tomorrow. As will fellow Liberal MP Steve Ciobo.
They join Kelly O’Dwyer, Michael Keenan, Nigel Scullion, and Julie Bishop as key Liberal Party figures to announce they’ll be leaving politics altogether rather than contest the election.
Pyne has been doing the media rounds today as speculation about his impending retirement mounted, but he remained outwardly very non-committed. On Sky News, quite crucially, Pyne refused to outright rule out any possible retirement announcement, taking a veiled swipe at Sky’s ball-achingly low viewership in the process.
Do you think if I announce my retirement on Sky’s Pyne and Marles we’ll go from 12 viewers to 25 viewers?
Pyne was originally elected to Federal Parliament in the Adelaide seat of Sturt in 1993 at the age of just 25, and has held the seat consistently for the 26-odd years since then.
Gotta say: Not a great time to be a Liberal MP, folks!
