Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison will call it quits after after 16-years in politics.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, he said he had decided “to take on new challenges in the global corporate sector and spend more time with my family”.
His resignation marks the end of a colourful and often controversial career.
Scott Morrison entered politics in 2007 as an MP for the division of Cook in New South Wales. He was appointed minister of Immigration and Border Protection in the Abbott government where he implemented Operation Sovereign Borders. He infamously has a statue of a boat in his office that says “I Stopped These”.
He was later Social Services Minister under Tony Abbott during the contentious Robodebt scandal before becoming treasurer. He then toppled Malcolm Turnbull to become Prime Minister in 2018.
As Prime Minister, he came to grief over a badly timed holiday to Hawaii while much of Australia burned in the 2019-2020 bushfires, saying, “I don’t carry a hose, mate” when questioned on it.
He also gained a reputation for secrecy, famously signing the massive AUKUS submarine deal with the United States and Britain, snubbing France along the way.
He most famously led the country through the COVID crisis – contentiously repeating “it’s not a race” in reference to a stalled vaccine roll out.
And finally lost the prime ministership when Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party defeated the Coalition in 2022.
His resignation will trigger a by-election in Cook, a famously safe Liberal seat.
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