Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones is a late addition to the list of Australian Labor Party (ALP) politicians retiring before the election, which must be held before May 17.
There are suggestions an election could be called for April, especially if the Reserve Bank cuts the official cash rate at its February meeting.
Jones joins former Labor leader and minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill Shorten—who has already left Parliament to take up a role as vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra—frontbencher Brendan O’Connor, former Indigenous Minister Linda Burney, and backbenchers Graham Perrett and Brian Mitchell.
The departing MP will remain in his portfolios until the election, but his departure means Albanese will need to reshuffle his economics team, probably after the election.
The assistant treasurer role is a sought-after one, as the incumbent also sits on the government’s expenditure review committee of cabinet, which approves all new spending programs.
Jones entered federal parliament in 2010, became an opposition parliamentary secretary in 2013, and a year later, took on the first of a series of roles as an opposition spokesperson.
Polls Suggest a Minority Government
He leaves as the latest Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy poll shows the Coalition leading Labor by 51 to 49 percent in the two-party preferred count, a result that has remained unchanged for four consecutive months. It marked the seventh month in which the opposition has out-polled the government.Pundits say the most likely outcome is a Labor-led minority government.
In announcing his retirement, Jones said “15 years is a long time,” and that he had yet to decide his next steps.
“After 15 years and five elections, I am announcing that I won’t be standing for re-election as the member for Whitlam,” he said. “I want to express my immense gratitude to my community for the faith and trust they have placed in me to be their representative since 2010.”
He also thanked Albanese for his “friendship and support over many decades” and said he was proud of the part he had played in “progressing marriage equality and gambling ad reform” in his early years in politics.
He also played a key role in the government’s efforts to force social media companies to pay for local news content, crack down on scams, deregulate the financial advice sector, and improve standards for customers of superannuation funds.
The 59-year-old recently married public sector union National President Brooke Muscat in a ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
