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TEHRAN, Mar 02 - Australia's defence minister and his deputy both announced they were quitting politics on Saturday, bringing to five the number of cabinet members retiring as Prime Minister Scott Morrison heads into a fraught election.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, the most moderate remaining member of Morrison's conservative coalition government, said he was stepping down at the next election, due by mid-May, to begin a business career.
The junior defence minister, Steven Ciobo, announced separately that he would also not contest the May election and would give up his portfolio immediately so Morrison could name a replacement.
Pyne and Ciobo were the fourth and fifth cabinet members in Morrison's six-month-old government to announce they would quit politics at the May election.
Several backbench Liberal MPs, including the most senior women in the party, have also announced they won't contest the next election, or will do so as independents.
A senior Labor Party official, Penny Wong, said the latest departures illustrated a "stampede for the exits" from the embattled Morrison coalition.
"What will the Morrison government be remembered for? A stampede for the exit and jobs for their mates," she said following the announcements by Pyne and Ciobo.
Morrison came to power after hardline conservatives in the Liberal party ousted centrist prime minister Malcolm Turnbull last August.
Source: AFP
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