Tony Abbott has brushed off Jeff Kennett’s call for generational change in the Liberal party, arguing that politicians with drive, character and convictions are “useful at any age”.
The comments to 2GB Radio on Monday responded to Kennett’s suggestion that MPs Julie Bishop, Kevin Andrews – and possibly Abbott himself – should follow jobs and women minister Kelly O’Dwyer’s lead and quit the parliament.
O’Dwyer’s shock resignation on Saturday has sparked a search for a candidate to help hold the usually safe seat of Higgins.
On Monday Victorian senator Jane Hume ruled herself out of contention, suggesting that the candidate should be chosen on merit and men such as former state MP John Pesutto would also have a claim. Guardian Australia understands Pesutto will not be a candidate.
Kennett told the Australian on Monday that Bishop and Andrews “stand out clearly” as Coalition members who could make way for new talent because both had served in the ministry but were now on the backbench.
“I’m at sixes and sevens about Tony Abbott,” he reportedly said. “He’s still young enough to make a serious contribution in the parliament and a serious contribution outside.”
While many in the Liberal party expect Bishop to retire after she anoints a replacement, Bishop told Guardian Australia she was the preselected candidate in Curtin and it was her intention to run. Andrews and Abbott are also preselected and intend to run.
Abbott said that it was important not to have a “monoculture” in parliament of all young people, old people, political staffers, trade union officials, “all blokes” or even “all women”.
“The last thing we want to do is give the idea that just because you’re 60 or even 70 that you’re necessarily over the hill,” Abbott told 2GB.
The former prime minister cited Donald Trump, 72, the major Democratic candidates for president and China’s president Xi Jinping, who Abbott described as “arguably the most important man in the world these days”, all in their late 60s or early 70s.
“I just think the important thing is to have energy, drive, to have character and convictions – and if you’ve got them, you’re useful at any age.”
Hume told ABC News Breakfast that although she had considered running in her “home seat” of Higgins, she was “very happy in the Senate” and would serve out her full six-year term.
She said the vacancy in Higgins was “a real opportunity for the Liberal party now to bring in some new fresh talent … another weapon in the arsenal, if you like, in fighting the next election”.
Hume said the Liberal party had an “incredible depth of talent pool”, citing potential candidates in Higgins including Zoe McKenzie, a staffer to former trade minister, Andrew Robb, former state upper house member Margaret Fitzherbert and Jess Wilson, a former adviser to Josh Frydenberg, now at the Business Council of Australia.
“I would love to see a woman take this seat because I genuinely do think we need some good female representation, particularly in safe seats,” she said. “This is a golden opportunity. However, we would also like to see good men step up.”
Hume said Pesutto – who intended to nominate for Victorian Liberal leader before he lost his seat of Hawthorn in the November landslide state election – would be a “great candidate”.
“What we want is the best candidate … not necessarily the best woman, but I would love – personally, as a champion of women in the Liberal party – I would love to see a woman.”
The trade minister, Simon Birmingham, told ABC News Breakfast he would miss O’Dwyer, who he described as “a very fierce defender of liberal values, both economically and socially”.
Birmingham said he hoped the new Liberal candidate would be a woman and noted there were “a number of high-quality, high-calibre women looking at it at present”.
Birmingham said it was “highly, highly unlikely” that former Higgins MP, treasurer and deputy Liberal leader Peter Costello could make a comeback in the seat.
“I suspect we will see new talent, fresh talent, and I’m sure somebody who will go on and make a contribution akin to what Kelly and Peter have made to the Liberal ranks and to the nation in the future.”
