January 15, 2016
Member for Groom Ian Macfarlane, who was barred from swapping from the Liberal Party to National Party late last year, announced on Monday he would not recontest his Toowoomba-based seat at the next Federal Election.
The LNP State Executive voted in December to stop Mr Macfarlane from swapping to the National Party, despite his local Branch approving the move.
If Mr Macfarlane’s move had been approved, he would have sat in the Nationals’ party room in Canberra. This would have given the party the right to claim another Cabinet seat, based on the Coalition agreement.
Commentators at the time suggested the plan had been engineered by then-Nationals Leader Warren Truss.
Ian Macfarlane was born in Kingaroy and was president of the Queensland Grain Growers Association before being elected to Parliament in 1998.
He served as Industry and Science Minister for two years in the Abbott Government before losing the position in the Cabinet re-shuffle which followed Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to the role of Prime Minister.
“I will now be looking for new challenges to use my wealth of knowledge and experience in the resources, industry and science sectors for the betterment of our great nation,” he said on Monday.
