Liberal MP tight-lipped over replacement
Former workplace minister Craig Laundy has urged rank-and-file Liberals to pick the best candidate after two star candidates rebuffed offers to replace him in his Sydney seat.
ABC broadcaster Stan Grant and former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas have knocked back the chance to run for the Liberals in Reid, which is held by a margin of 4.7 per cent.
Mr Laundy isn't buying in to whether a woman should run for the seat to help boost the party's low female representation in Canberra.
"It'd be sanctimonious of me to sit here and preach to the rank and file who they should select. I think they should select the best candidate for the job," he told ABC Radio National on Monday.
Mr Laundy joined the chorus of moderate Liberals who have railed against the possibility of preference deals with Pauline Hanson's One Nation despite some coalition figures arguing the Greens are more extreme.
"I wouldn't be keen to see One Nation supported in any way because I disagree with the majority of things that come out of One Nation candidates' mouths," he said.
Victorian Liberal Tim Wilson said One Nation should be put "dead last" in his Melbourne electorate of Goldstein because of the party's long history of fanning bigotry.
"We should show spine, not be supine, and that means standing up to them and discrediting them at every single opportunity," he told Sky News.
Mr Laundy is following a conga line of high-profile Liberals out the door at the next election, with moderate cabinet ministers Kelly O'Dwyer and Christopher Pyne also retiring.
But he insists the dumping of his close friend Malcolm Turnbull as PM, which took a major toll on him at the time, did not spark his departure.
"Challenges that the family have been faced with over past 12 months put me in a position where it was the right decision for me and the family," Mr Laundy said.
Despite the cost of changing leaders, the outgoing MP still believes the coalition can score an upset victory under Scott Morrison's leadership.
Mr Wilson said the NSW state election results at the weekend indicated the party would probably hold onto Mr Laundy's seat of Reid.
