Federal assistant minister will have to leave parliament at next election after being defeated by Julian Simmonds

The Turnbull government minister Jane Prentice will lose her spot in parliament at the next federal election after losing a preselection battle against a former staff member.

The Brisbane City councillor, Julian Simmonds, who previously worked for Prentice, was chosen as the Liberal National party’s candidate for the Queensland seat of Ryan in a preselection ballot on Saturday.

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Prentice, the assistant minister for social services and disability services, has been the member for Ryan since the 2010 election. She was previously a Brisbane councillor when the former Queensland premier Campbell Newman was the city’s lord mayor.

In a statement after the vote, Simmonds said he was “very pleased” to have been selected.

“Jane Prentice has been a faithful servant of the Australian people and has our thanks and gratitude for a lifetime of support for the Liberal party and LNP,” he said.

“There will be a very clear choice for voters, the LNP that manages the economy responsibly for the benefit of all Australians, or Labor – who wants to impose higher taxes, and take more income from the pensioners and self-funded retirees who live in this community.

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“We expect that her role as the assistant minister for social services and disability services will continue until the election, especially given the fantastic work that she is doing with the NDIS.”

On Saturday, the Liberal party in West Australia announced it would not contest either of the coming byelections for the federal seats of Fremantle and Perth.

The resignation of the Labor MPs Josh Wilson – for being a dual citizen at the time of his nomination – and Tim Hammond (family reasons) triggered byelections.



“We will not be distracted by Bill Shorten’s duplicity and dishonesty that has resulted in a number of byelections being required across the country around 12 months from the next federal election, by contesting the Fremantle and Perth byelection,” the Liberals WA Twitter account said on Saturday.