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Gerard Rennick will “make waves” in politics by leaving the Liberal National Party and running as an independent.
The renegade Queensland senator, who once sat with the Liberals, says he can achieve more on the crossbench after becoming a party pariah.
Senator Gerald Renick.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Renick is known for his stance against vaccine mandates during the pandemic and angered many in the party by refusing to vote in protest when the Coalition was in power.
An internal email from chairman Lawrence Spingborg to LNP members said the party had been informed of the senator’s decision.
“People make their own decisions for their own reasons,” he said. “Our hard-working team will not be distracted by the priorities of Queenslanders.”
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Renick is seeking to push through a range of measures, including raising the tax-free threshold to $40,000, direct child care subsidies to families and scrapping the generous defined benefit plan for retired public servants.
He said change could not be sparked from within the major political parties, adding that he had only decided to quit the LNP in the past two weeks.
“You go to Canberra and you can’t get anything done,” he said. “If I stayed in the party I wouldn’t be able to push these ideas so I could have a debate on these issues.”
The Queensland senator, who was removed from the LNP’s federal electoral list in July and whose appeal was dismissed, said he initially considered running for a party position, such as president, but ultimately decided to register his own party.
Mr Renick said he would use the remaining weeks in parliament to introduce private legislation and refer issues to an inquiry to get his ideas on the agenda.
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