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Leading No campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine will quit the race for the NSW Liberal senate position vacated by former foreign minister Marise Payne.
Mundine’s decision to withdraw comes after an awkward week in which his positions on treaties with Indigenous Australians and whether the date of Australia Day should be changed were exposed as contradictory to his anti-Voice colleagues.
Warren Mundine is pulling out of the race for a NSW senate seat vacancy created by Marise Payne’s decision to quit politics.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
He said on the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that he supported a treaty with Indigenous people and wanted to change the date of Australia Day, two agenda items the No side has claimed the Yes camp would pursue through a Voice to parliament. Mundine’s comments caused angst among conservative NSW Liberals who were supporting his Senate run.
The prominent No campaigner, who stood for the NSW seat of Gilmore for the Liberal Party in the 2019 election, confirmed to this masthead he planned to withdraw.
“It looks like I am going to be pulling out and I will stay in the business sector,” he said.
Mundine’s decision was also influenced by the difficulty of untangling himself from business contracts with Australian government entities. One of his businesses has a contract with the federal government that would potentially preclude him from parliament, as section 44 of the Constitution disqualifies someone with a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Commonwealth.
The person who was Mundine’s biggest threat – former NSW government minister Andrew Constance – is now the clear favourite for the Senate spot, but a growing number of candidates are jostling for the position vacated by Payne, with nominations to close on November 4.
Other conservative-aligned candidates include Afghanistan-born, anti-Taliban activist Mina Zaki, a cyber expert at consulting firm KPMG, barrister Ishita Sethi, lawyer Pallavi Sinha, former NSW Liberal MP Lou Amato and Monica Tudehope, who has previously worked as Dominic Perrottet’s policy director.
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