{"id":735352,"date":"2026-06-14T04:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/735352\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T04:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:53:12","slug":"liberal-frontbencher-jonno-duniam-to-quit-politics-says-leadership-spill-started-to-really-wear-on-me-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/735352\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal frontbencher Jonno Duniam to quit politics, says leadership spill \u2018started to really wear on me\u2019 | Coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberal frontbencher Jonno Duniam will quit politics before the end of the year, in another major blow to the struggling Coalition<\/a> as it experiences its lowest levels of popularity in decades.<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian senator, who was elected to parliament in 2016 and is seen as one of the Liberals\u2019 best talents, said it was an \u201cextremely difficult decision to make\u201d but one he had been considering for \u201cquite some time\u201d to spend more time with family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we\u2019re at in the polls is irrelevant,\u201d the 43-year-old said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duniam, who serves as the opposition\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, said he had informed the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, who asked him to finish the Coalition\u2019s immigration policy work before quitting.<\/p>\n

Taylor said Duniam\u2019s retirement was a \u201cgreat loss\u201d for the Liberals, describing him as \u201cintelligent, articulate and always across his brief\u201d.<\/p>\n

His retirement comes after fellow Tasmanian Liberal senator Wendy Askew also announced she would leave the upper house after being appointed in 2019 in a casual vacancy.<\/p>\n

Duniam said the party\u2019s leadership change<\/a> earlier this year was an \u201cexhausting\u201d and \u201cdifficult\u201d process that catalysed his decision to retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duniam said he felt as if he was \u201cletting down the team\u201d but had given 25 years to the party and needed to prioritise his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am leaving the field of battle and leaving them on it, which is not a good feeling, but at the end of the day one has to make a choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got three boys, I\u2019ve got a family that I need to ensure have me around as well, and that\u2019s why I made this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newly elected federal Liberal president, Tony Abbott, said he was \u201cvery disappointed\u201d but understood how tough public life could be.<\/p>\n

Abbott said Duniam\u2019s retirement required the opposition to put \u201cevery hand on deck right now to save Australia from a terrible government and keep us our best selves\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope his replacement is drawn from a very strong field of proven achievers seeking to serve our country and advance the ideals of the Liberal party<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, told Sky News on Sunday Duniam was one of the opposition\u2019s \u201cbest and brightest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Duniam acknowledged his announcement came at a difficult time for the Coalition, which, according to current polling data, could be wiped out as the opposition at the next federal election if One Nation\u2019s surge in popularity holds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In May, a Redbridge Group\/Accent Research poll<\/a> published in the Australian Financial Review showed One Nation\u2019s primary vote had surpassed Labor and the Coalition for the first time.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Tony Pasin, a conservative Liberal from rural South Australia<\/a> and a shadow minister, suggested his party and One Nation should \u201cwork hand-in-glove to defeat Labor\u201d by arranging a deal not to run in the same seats.<\/p>\n

The suggestion was quickly rejected by Taylor, and Liberal senator James Paterson criticised the suggestion as \u201cpremature\u201d.<\/p>\n

Duniam said talking about deals with One Nation two years before a federal election was \u201cnot relevant\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if we\u2019re just going to wave the white flag and say that it\u2019s over now [and] we\u2019ve just got to do deals with others to get across the line, then we\u2019re not doing our job properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberal frontbencher Jonno Duniam will quit politics before the end of the year, in another major blow to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-735352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}