The Nationals Federal Member for Lyne David Gillespie has announced he will be retiring from Parliament at the next election.
"It's been an honour and privilege to serve and represent you as the Federal Member for Lyne in the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia since 2013," Dr Gillespie said in a statement on Saturday.
The Nationals have already begun the preselection process for Lyne and nominations close in about three weeks' time.
A preselection meeting will be held on Saturday, December 7, to determine the next candidate for the election which is due in the next months.
Dr Gillespie's announcement came as the Liberal Party announced it had preselected Laurence Antcliff as its candidate for the neighbouring seat of Paterson, held by Labor's Meryl Swanson in the next election.
Lyne takes in Lorn and Bolwarra in the northern suburbs of Maitland, parts of the Port Stephens and the Dungog and Mid-Coast shires.
While he will not be contesting the next election, Dr Gillespie's legacy will include the Coalition's zero-emissions nuclear technology platform.
"As the Chair of Parliamentary Friends of Nuclear Industries for the past five years, I have continued to work with members of the Coalition and across the parliament in pushing for new zero-emissions nuclear technology as a viable option to secure Australia's energy security in the future and I'm delighted that it has now become Coalition policy," he said.
Dr Gillespie served in the Coalition Government Ministry for three years during his nine years in government, prior to the 2022 Coalition election defeat and said he was proud to be able to "secure record funding for so many projects throughout our region".
"It has been a lot of hard work, but also an absolute pleasure working with so many of you involved in various organisations across the community who have helped me deliver these projects," he said.
"In Parliament, I have used this national forum as an opportunity to advocate on behalf of our community and our local industries and work with my parliamentary colleagues on all sides to improve the lives of Australians and help deliver a better country now and in the future.
"Whether it be in energy policy, tax reform, cutting red tape, infrastructure investment, support of our primary industries and small business, competition policy, aged care, national security, social services or reform of our Federation, I've certainly continued to prosecute the case on why we need to invest and implement common sense policies in these areas."
Dr Gillespie said Minister for Regional Health he was particularly passionate about the need to build our medical and health workforce in the regions and secured funding for a major expansion of the network of full-time medical schools and nursing and allied health campuses across regional Australia.
He said during his time in Parliament the region has experienced many challenges from the 2019/2020 Bushfires, the 2021 Floods and the Covid Pandemic.
"During these challenging events, I have worked with our community and my parliamentary colleagues in Canberra to ensure we were able to secure the support we needed to respond and help us bounce back stronger," he said.
Dr Gillespie thanked his wife Charlotte and their family for their love and support.
"As good as it is, the job has taken me away from home to Canberra for Parliament and across Australia as a Minister for well over half the year, each year, for over 11 years," he said.
"Keeping a very busy schedule across a big electorate also means many more days away from my family. Having completed many national policy initiatives and having secured funding for many local projects that I have been working on for some years, I'm now looking forward to spending more time with Charlotte and my family."
Dr Gillespie said he would continue to work hard between now and the next election as Lyne MP and will work closely with the next Nationals candidate to ensure the region continues to not only receive strong representation, but also remains the focus of regional investment.
I'll be working with and supporting the new Nationals candidate to ensure many of the projects we are continuing to work on locally will be included in The Nationals Plan for government at next year's election.
"Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the people of the Lyne electorate for their ongoing support," he said.
"Thank you to The Nationals party members who have continued to help with policy development and in supporting me at each and every election, and thank you to my staff for all of their hard work in helping me do my job serving the people of the Lyne electorate."
