Outgoing Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis’s acceptance of a secondment to observe the sitting of the UN General Assembly has not gone down well in the electorate she leaves behind.
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As news broke of the three-month posting last week, hot on the heels of the incendiary announcement of her retirement in the parliament, social media lit up with condemnation.
Why, people asked, was Mrs Sudmalis being rewarded with such a plumb posting?
It’s a reasonable question but one which in fairness ought to be directed at the other retiring members who will be joining Mrs Sudmalis, Labor’s Jenny Macklin, who is retiring after 22 years.
The purpose of the bipartisan secondment is to observe proceedings and report back to the parliament. It would seem more appropriate to grant it to younger parliamentarians looking to build their careers in the fields of foreign affairs or defence, rather than MPs moving towards the exit.
Political observers suggest the real intent behind offering the position to Mrs Sudmalis is damage control – to ensure she doesn’t do further damage to the Liberal brand, which has taken a hammering in the wake of bullying allegations.
In her damning speech to the House of Representatives, under parliamentary privilege, she accused state MP Gareth Ward and Shoalhaven councillor Andrew Guile of a campaign of undermining and leaking to the media – specifically, the South Coast Register.
It should be noted both Mr Ward and Cr Guile strenuously denied the allegations and South Coast MP Shelley Hancock warned against mistaking the vigorous workings of democracy for bullying.
Mrs Hancock took to the floor of the NSW Parliament a couple of days after Mrs Sudmalis’s speech to applaud the work of South Coast journalists for reporting on all manner of stories and for advocating for their local communities.
With the federal and NSW governments facing elections in 2019, Mrs Sudmalis managed to dent the electoral prospects of both. Whatever sympathy she might have elicited evaporated with the UN posting.
The electorate now awaits the preselection process to see who from the Liberal Party will put their hand up to contest what promises to be a bruising election.
Whoever it is will have their work cut out for them.
