Liberal frontbencher Jonno Duniam will quit politics before the end of the year, in another major blow to the struggling Coalition which is experiencing its lowest levels of popularity in decades.
The Tasmanian senator, who has been in parliament since 2016, said it was an “extremely difficult decision to make” but one he had been considering for “quite some time” to spend more time with family.
“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,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“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.
“I leave federal politics proud and grateful but exhausted.”
Duniam, who serves as the shadow home affairs minister, said he had informed the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, who asked him to finish the Coalition’s immigration policy work.
“I am very happy to be able to do that – and to devote myself to building on the extensive work that Angus and the team have already undertaken on our Australian values migration plan and on restoring integrity, confidence and national interest to Australia’s migration system,” he said.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, told Sky News on Sunday Duniam was one of the opposition’s “best and brightest”.
The 43-year-old acknowledged his announcement came at a difficult time for the Coalition, who, on current polling data, could be wiped out as the opposition at the next federal election if One Nation’s surge in popularity remains.
In May, a Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll published in the Australian Financial Review showed One Nation’s primary vote had surpassed Labor and the Coalition for the first time.
Earlier this week, Tony Pasin, a conservative Liberal from rural South Australia and a shadow minister, suggested his party and One Nation “work hand-in-glove to defeat Labor” by arranging a deal not to run in the same seats.
The suggestion was quickly rejected by Taylor, and Liberal senator James Paterson criticised the suggestion as “premature”.
“I am not interested in dividing the spoils with another political party two years out from the election and frankly hitching our wagon to their brand with all the risks that that entails between now and then,” Paterson said.
