NSW Transport Minister David Elliott to retire at poll
David Elliott has said that he won't run in the next state election. This means that his 12-year political career is coming to an end.
David Elliott, who is in charge of transport in NSW, will leave state politics next year. He chose not to run for re-election after his seat was taken away.
In a statement released Saturday night, the minister for transport, veterans, and western Sydney said that he would not run in the March election because of his party affiliation.
Elliott wrote, "With the abolition of my Baulkham Hills electorate and the news that I cannot be accommodated in the new seat of Castle Hill for reasons of faction, I have told my community that I will not be running again in the 2023 state election."
Elliott ran for preselection for Castle Hill after his seat in Baulkham Hills was taken away in a redistribution.
Ray Williams holds the safe Liberal seat of Castle Hill in the northwest of Sydney. Williams is running for the new seat of Kellyville, which is mostly made up of Elliott's old seat of Baulkham Hills.
Elliot joins a long list of NSW coalition MPs who are leaving their jobs, including Rob Stokes, who is the Minister of Infrastructure, Victor Dominello, who is the Minister of Customer Service, and Geoff Lee, who is the Minister of Corrections.
The 52-year-old has caused trouble since he was elected to the NSW parliament in 2011. He has been minister of police, emergency services, counterterrorism, and corrections.
During an alleged road rage incident in 2019, he told a P-plate driver that he "worked for the cops." He also defended strip-searching of minors, was caught on camera firing two illegal guns, and was criticized for taking a trip overseas during the Black Summer bushfires while he was emergency services minister.
Elliott has been in a long-running fight with the union for rail, tram, and bus workers in NSW over a new enterprise agreement.
Elliott talked about how his wife Nicole and two children have had to deal with the stress of him being in public office for 12 years.
"The boys and I have always laughed at how much thought and feeling went into the 'constructive feedback' I sometimes got, but I know Nicole took it personally a lot of the time," he said.
"Her faithfulness has been an example to us all. I served my country for almost 20 years in the military and in the NSW parliament. I leave public service happy that I did the best job I could."
At the March election, the coalition will try to make history by running for a fourth term.