Liberal frontbencher announces exit ahead of NSW election

Liberal frontbencher James Griffin has announced he will exit politics at the upcoming NSW election, the first senior MP to abandon ship before one of the party’s most difficult polls.

The resignation of Griffin – the shadow energy minister who considered himself a future Liberal leader – six months before the election offers a bleak assessment of the Coalition’s prospects.

It presents a blow for Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, already confronting a resurgent One Nation, who now faces the prospect of losing a seat the party has held since 2007.

In a statement announcing his retirement on Tuesday afternoon, Griffin said serving in cabinet had been the highlight of his career and issued a clarion call for the “sensible centre” of politics to be defended in the face of the rising threat of populism.

“Politics rarely affords you the chance to leave on your own terms. I have given this job everything I have, and it is time for the next chapter,” the former KPMG director said.

“As populism gains ground on the left and right, we cannot allow the politics of grievance to diminish the harder, more honest work of governing well.”

Griffin encouraged those considering a life in politics, saying democracy needed smart people dedicated to the public good.

Griffin said he was proud he remained true to his convictions, noting his support for voluntary assisted dying and reducing the number of poker machines in NSW, a battle he said remained unfinished, but he expected “others in my party room will take up the fight”.

His retirement will make holding his marginal northern beaches seat of Manly, which overlaps with an area held federally by teal independent Zali Steggall since 2019, more difficult. Griffin retained the seat in 2023 but suffered a nearly 8 per cent swing, cutting the seat’s margin to 4.8 per cent. It is one of 13 seats held by the Coalition on a margin of less than 5 per cent.

Griffin, a moderate who succeeded former Liberal premier Mike Baird at the 2017 byelection, said he was confident his replacement could retain the seat if they continued to espouse a “Manly brand of optimistic Liberalism”.

In a statement, Sloane thanked Griffin for his contribution to the party, saying he approached politics with “good humour, decency and respect for others.”

“I will miss having him alongside me as we head towards the next election, but after almost 10 years of service I completely understand his decision to begin a new chapter,” she said.

However, his exit underscores the numerous difficulties confronting Sloane and the Liberals nearly six months out from polling day.

An ongoing Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation has battered the party’s reputation, raking through allegations Liberal apparatchiks corruptly took large sums of money from developer Jean Nassif to help deliver him political outcomes.