UPDATE, 9.27am — Steven Marshall says Redmond would have played a “vital role” in any future Liberal government.
“I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’ve held her in high esteem,” Mr Marshall told FIVEAA brekkie on Wednesday.
“I won’t talk about specifically whether I offered her something or not, but it’s fair to say she would have played a vital role in our line up if we did form government at the next election if she was still there.
“But she’s made the decision not to continue — I don’t think that was a consideration for her in the end.
“She’ll be 65 at the next election and she’s just decided there are other things for her to do.”
Mr Marshall said applications were open to replace Ms Redmond in the seat of Heysen.
“I think that there’ll be a huge field of people that will run…
“Big shoes to fill, no doubt about hat, but I’m sure there will be a big line up of people that will be putting their hand up.”
EARLIER…
Isobel Redmond says she will retire at the 2018 state election.
“I’ll be 65 at the next election so I’ll be almost 69 at the end of the term,” Ms Redmond has told the Mount Barker Courier.
“I feel relatively energetic at the moment but it is a job that requires 60 hours a week — even as a backbencher.
“I ultimately decided that if I can’t do the job as well as I want to I’d rather not put my hand up at all.”
The Advertiser’s political editor Daniel Wills suggested the decision was a result of internal discussions about her role in any future Liberal government.
“We knew she was considering it. That was something she had said publicly,” Dan told FIVEAA brekkie.
“She said that she was weighing up whether to go around again and a big part of that consideration was whether there was any chance of her being a minister — because she didn’t want to spend four years as a back bencher.
“I think one can pretty fairly infer there may have been a discussion where she was told probably where her future lay in that regard, and she’s clearly decided she’s out.”
