Opposition leader Angus Taylor is losing one of his most effective shadow ministers, Jonno Duniam, who will quit parliament this year, citing family reasons and “exhaustion”.
Duniam, 43, a senator for Tasmania, shadows the demanding portfolio of home affairs, and has been central in the crafting of the opposition’s immigration policy, which is still to be fully released.
Part of the conservative faction in the Liberal Party (and close to leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie), Duniam will be missed not just on the policy front. He is a good negotiator in the Senate, where he is manager of opposition business, and a strong media performer.
As a senator, he is replaced by his party, so there is no byelection.
Duniam said on Sunday, “Obviously, I acknowledge that I am leaving at a difficult time for the Coalition”.
“This was an extremely difficult decision to make – albeit that it is one I have been considering for quite some time,” he said in a statement.
He was leaving federal politics proud of what he had done and grateful for the opportunity to do it but “exhausted”.
“I have spent the past 25 years in politics, the last 10 of those as a Senator for Tasmania – and I have given everything to these responsibilities, often at the expense of family. Twenty-five years is a long time in any vocation and, when you take your role seriously, it always comes first. It is time I reversed my priorities and I can’t do that if I am to stay in politics.”
Duniam told reporters that the leadership change, which installed Taylor, was the time when his decision to leave crystallised. He said it was an “exhausting process” which had come on top of other exhausting times and events.
“When the leadership change came along, it started to really wear on me. It was less about direction and more about my personal energy levels. And to that end, that is why I made that decision.”
Duniam said Taylor, with whom he discussed his decision some time ago, had asked him to continue for a short period to complete work on the opposition’s immigration policies.
The loss of Duniam will mean Taylor has to reshuffle the shadow ministry; there have already been multiple reshuffles since the election last year.
Duniam was an assistant minister in the Morrison government. In the run up to the 2022 election he defeated ex-minister Eric Abetz (for whom he once worked) for the top place on the Liberal ticket. Abetz was defeated at that election and is now treasurer in the Tasmanian government.
Don’t put up white flag to One Nation, Duniam tells Liberals
Asked at a news conference about how to deal with One Nation, Duniam said:
I think that we need to do what any political party does in the lead up to any election, and that is to put its best foot forward. Go out and tell people why they should be voted for. We haven’t done that properly.
All of this talk about preference deals and coalitions is way too premature and, in fact, not even relevant. Our job is to win back the votes we lost.
Our job is to go out and make sure people understand why the Liberal Party and the National Party in coalition are the team to back. We’ve got to do that before any discussion around preferences and all of those matters related to an actual election. Because, if we’re just going to wave the white flag and say that it’s over now, we’ve just got to do deals with others to get across the line, then we’re not doing our job properly.
We’re Liberals. We are a major party, a party of government in this country. And in coalition with the
Nationals, we can form government.
Asked if he would be leaving now if it looked like the Liberals had a more realistic chance of forming government after the next election Duniam said:
I’ve got three boys, all at different stages in their
growing up – and not being around, not being a part of a lot of what they have gone through, has been very difficult.My team, my colleagues in Canberra and trusted friends
know that I’ve been weighing this up for a while.Where we’re at in the polls is irrelevant. You’ve got
to remember, of course, if we won the next election and I happened to be a minister, that workload
that takes me away from my children in particular would double, triple or quadruple.And if I’m talking about family versus work, then I can tell you now, it wouldn’t matter whether we were on the
precipice of a landslide win, or the doldrums of electoral defeat, I would be making the same decision
I am today.
He said that as yet he had no plans for life after politics. “I’ve got to figure that out.”
Another Tasmanian Liberal senator, Wendy Askew, 63, has announced she will not be a candidate for the next election.
