Opposition Senate leader Simon Birmingham announces surprise retirement at election

Opposition leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, has announced he will retire from parliament at the election, to take up a “new, commercially oriented” career.

Birmingham, 50, the most senior Liberal moderate and the shadow foreign minister, leaves a hole in the Coalition team only months out from the election.

He has represented South Australia in the Senate since 2007, and served in a number of portfolios including finance, education and trade in the Coalition governments. In 2020 he replaced Mathias Cormann as Senate leader. In elections he often had an important role as campaign spokesperson.

Telling the Senate he had turned 50 this year, he said: “Now is the right time for me, for my family, and for new career pathways”.

“It is always better to go when there are some wishing you to stay, and none of us is irreplaceable.”

He was not specific about what job he will take up, saying just “I’m excited that next year I will step into a new commercially-oriented direction”.

But he gave the assurance: “You can all be relieved to know that it has nothing to do with lobbying, government relations or commentary”.

Senate leader Penny Wong said Birmingham was a “thoroughly decent person” and thanked him for his “constructive engagement”. She referred to how he had shown kindness to her after Labor’s election loss in 2019.

In his speech Birmingham said he was proud of “my small role in securing marriage equality in Australia, having been the first Coalition frontbencher to publicly back marriage reform”.

He also said he did not accept “the perceptions peddled by some in this building of it being a universally toxic workplace. There are many staff and members of parliament of all political persuasions who not only work hard and achieve much but they actually enjoy their time here too”.

He told the Senate he was troubled by “the global rise of populism and divisive tribalism peddled by ideological extremes.

"It risks social cohesion in countries like ours and jeopardises the economic wellbeing of countries like ours. I am confident that Australia is a country whose values sit at the centre and the parties of government forget that at their peril.”

His speech was followed by long applause, reflecting his popularity across the chamber.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said: “Birmo has a young family, and I know he’s going to be looking forward to spending more time with them, and he’s given an enormous amount to our country”.

Birmingham’s place as opposition leader in the Senate will be taken by his deputy Michaelia Cash.