Federal Liberal MP at risk of losing seat calls time
Liberal frontbencher Paul Fletcher, whose seat is under threat, will retire from federal politics at the next election.
Fletcher, who was a communications minister in the Morrison government, has represented the Sydney electorate of Bradfield since 2009.
The outgoing MP said it had been a privilege to represent the seat.
“Renewal is healthy, for people and institutions, and now is the right time to hand over the baton,” he said on Tuesday.
“I will continue to serve my constituents in Bradfield for the balance of this parliamentary term. I will also keep working for the election of a Dutton Liberal government.”
While Bradfield has long been considered a blue-ribbon seat for the Liberals, Fletcher came close to losing it at the 2022 election.
There was a large swing against him, after independent Nicolette Boele entered the race.
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The Liberals now hold Bradfield on a margin of 4.2 per cent and Boele has launched a campaign to win the seat at the federal election due by May next year.
His announcement on Tuesday came a week after Fletcher launched an astonishing broadside at the teal MPs elected to federal parliament in 2022 – and those who voted for them.
In an address to the Sydney Institute last Monday, Fletcher claimed the teals “are a giant green left con job” and maintained a minority government would be bad for the country.
“The strategy was clear: To appeal to traditional Liberal voters who would never vote Labor but who were disenfranchised with the Coalition,” he said.
“The intention was to get people to think: ‘That nice teal candidate could almost be a Liberal. I’ll vote for her’.”
Fletcher also complained the teals were helped by Labor and Greens supporters voting “tactically”.
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“Left-wing voters saw a chance to unseat a Liberal incumbent and voted in large numbers to do so,” he said.
Fletcher went on to say the teals had often voted with the Greens in parliament. But they had both “made little difference”, because it’s not a hung parliament, and “made it easier for Labor to govern”.
On Tuesday, he said the Liberal Party would take nothing for granted in the looming election campaign, while “the local mood is discernibly different from 2022”.
“I expect some outstanding people will put themselves forward to be the next Liberal candidate for Bradfield, and to serve the people of Bradfield with energy and commitment,” he said.
Fletcher was elected to parliament following a byelection in 2009 sparked by the retirement of former opposition leader Brendan Nelson.
After Malcolm Turnbull become prime minister, Fletcher was named minister for territories and local government and later urban infrastructure.
He was a prominent cabinet minister in Scott Morrison’s government, first as social services minister and later leading the communications portfolio.
Fletcher plans to return to the private sector.
-with AAP
