16/03/2026

In politics, a change to the Party Leadership signals a change in the Ministerial teams and last week’s events have triggered this for the National Party.

As a result, I will no longer be the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services, based on the decision of new leader Matt Canavan.

While I am of course disappointed by the decision, I respect that this is the process and remain absolutely committed to the National Party and our role in representing the real needs of regional people right across this beautiful country of ours.

I would like to thank David Littleproud for allowing me the opportunity to be the first National Party member to hold a financial or economic portfolio in 70 years. During my time in the role, I acknowledged the weight of that and what that meant not just for the party, but Regional Australia as a whole.

I’m proud to have fought for a fair superannuation system that rewarded aspiration and protected farmers and small businesses from the Treasurer’s non-sensical unrealised Capital Gains Tax that would have placed real charges on imaginary earnings.

I’m proud to have fought for those caught up in the First Guardian and Shield collapses, whose retirement nest eggs were ripped away by unscrupulous players and a system that failed to protect them.

And I’m proud to have brought some common sense to our broken alcohol and tobacco tax systems, introducing legislation aimed at making them not only fairer but safeguarding them from continued erosion by criminal gangs.

None of which could have been achieved without my dedicated staff, and I would like to thank them for their hard work and support throughout.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the new National Party Shadow Ministry and look forward to working as a team to hold this failing Government to account and as a Coalition provide a viable alternative in the best interests of all Australians.

ENDS