Cabinet minister Steve Ciobo poised to retire at the election
Updated
Scott Morrison is poised to lose another minister from his election team, with Queensland frontbencher Steve Ciobo widely expected to quit federal politics.
Key points:
- Steve Ciobo resigned as Malcolm Turnbull’s trade minister during the Liberal leadership spill
- The Minister for Defence Industry would become the fourth minister to quit ahead of the election
- His departure fuels speculation Peter Dutton could try to jump into Mr Ciobo’s safe Liberal seat
Mr Ciobo, the Minister for Defence Industry, has repeatedly refused to declare to the ABC whether he intends to stand in the May election.
It is understood Mr Ciobo has recently moved into a unit along with his family, shifting from a home that has undergone two years’ renovation.
His Liberal colleagues believe he plans to announce his retirement very soon, with a view to taking a job overseas.
But Mr Ciobo, who was trade minister under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, has tweeted he would be travelling to Jakarta next week accompanying his successor, Simon Birmingham, for the signing of the Indonesia-Australia free trade agreement.
He would become the fourth minister to call an end to their time in Federal Parliament in recent months, following Kelly O’Dwyer, Michael Keenan and Nigel Scullion.
The pre-election manoeuvring is also calling into question the future of Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, who has repeatedly denied suggestions he will call an end to his quarter of a century in Parliament.
“Once I decide to announce my retirement, you’ll be the first to know,” Mr Pyne said on Sky News.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to confirm or deny Mr Ciobo or Mr Pyne’s departures.
“I talk to them all the time,” was his only response to questions on the issue from reporters in Townsville.
Turnbull government frontbencher Craig Laundy, now on the backbench, has not stated whether he will contest the next election. His office said he was still considering his future.
Mr Ciobo won the Gold Coast seat of Moncrieff 18 years ago and has served in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison ministries.
The 44-year-old resigned as trade minister at the height of last year’s Liberal leadership crisis, to back Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s ultimately unsuccessful challenge.
His electorate is considered a safe seat for the Liberals, sitting on a margin of 14.6 per cent.
Mr Ciobo’s departure would fuel speculation the Liberals will shuffle their candidates in Queensland, with some talk Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton could try to swap from his ultra-marginal electorate in Brisbane’s north-western suburbs into the more comfortable Gold Coast seat.
Mr Dutton faces a fierce campaign to unseat him by activist group Get Up, which has spent considerable amounts of money to try to topple him as the member for Dickson.
He has tried to swap seats in the past, with an unsuccessful bid to contest McPherson for the Liberals in 2009.
Despite a relatively unremarkable ministerial career, Mr Ciobo did spark headlines early on during his time on the frontbench when he turned on a man acquitted of terrorism charges live on national television.
The then-parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs told Sydney man Zaky Mallah he should be stripped of his Australian citizenship on the ABC’s Q&A program.
Mr Mallah was found not guilty of preparing a suicide attack on a Commonwealth building after being held for two years in Goulburn jail. He tweeted he “would pay to see that Minister dumped on ISIS territory in Iraq” after the confrontation.
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