Liberal MP Russell Broadbent has quit the party to sit on the crossbench. Photo: AAP
Federal Liberal MP Russell Broadbent has quit the party to sit on the crossbench after he was dumped from preselection.
The MP for the Victorian seat of Monash, who was first elected in 1990, told Coalition colleagues in Canberra on Tuesday he would see out the rest of his term as an independent.
Broadbent, 72, will be replaced as Liberal candidate for Monash by community leader Mary Aldred, following a preselection ballot on Sunday.
Aldred reportedly won the ballot by 161 votes to 16.
Tweet from @BroadbentMP
In a statement on Tuesday, Broadbent said he would remain a Liberal at heart but the preselection outcome had sent an obvious message.
“On Sunday, there was a preselection where I received less than 10 per cent of the vote. This was a clear signal from members and one which I believe revokes my licence to represent the Liberal Party in the electorate of Monash,” he said.
“As I said in the party room this morning, I believe there are storm clouds ahead for this nation, and I strongly encouraged the party to support the leader.”
Aldred is a government relations executive at Fujitsu and a Gippsland community leader. She is also the step-sister of former cabinet minister Alan Tudge, who previously held the outer-Melbourne seat of Aston.
Liberal MP Warren Entsch wished Broadbent well, as he conceded the preselection did send a message.
“I really feel for him. He was a thinker,” Entsch told The Australian.
“It highlights to everybody politics can be brutal. His contribution over many years has been quite outstanding. I’m sorry it’s gone the way it has. I’m going to miss him.”
Guardian Australia reported Broadbent told the Coalition partyroom meeting he had no criticism of Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
Dutton acknowledged Broadbent’s contribution to the Liberals over many decades.
Broadbent, who has been a member of the party since 1980, told the party room he would take medical leave, and then continue to represent the seat east of Melbourne as an independent.
Since the 2022 election, there have been two byelections for Coalition seats held by Tudge and Stuart Robert.
The Liberals lost Tudge’s seat to Labor but retained Robert’s seat of Fadden.
Nationals MP Andrew Gee moved to the crossbench in support of the Indigenous voice in December.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a Labor caucus meeting it appeared Dutton’s key priority was to keep his party together.
Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto, whose first political job was working for Broadbent in the 1990s, said he was “disappointed” in the MP’s decision to walk away from the federal parliamentary Liberal party. But he said he “couldn’t be happier” with Aldred’s preselection.
“She’s going to be a star,” Pesutto said.
A federal election is due by May 2025.
– with AAP