Former Foreign Minister Marise Payne, a prominent moderate in the New South Wales Liberal party, is quitting parliament at the end of this month after 26 years in the Senate.
The longest-serving woman in the Senate’s history. Payne’s departure has been expected since the last election. She chose not to serve as a shadow minister after the Coalition’s 2022 election defeat, but became secretary of opposition leader Peter Dutton’s shadow cabinet.
She said in a statement Friday that she and Dutton had been colleagues and friends for more than 20 years while noting “politics has occasionally tested our strong friendship”. But their “shared service as foreign and defence ministers at a time of great challenge for Australia cemented my regard and respect for him”.
