The ABC presenter Stan Grant was reportedly approached by the Liberal party to run in the federal seat of Reid, in Sydney’s inner west, but turned down the offer.
Grant, a well-known Indigenous figure who now works at Griffith University, was rung by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, 10 days ago and summoned to Kirribilli House to discuss the opportunity, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Grant, who is not a member of any political party, reportedly said he would take a week to think about it, but then turned it down.
“It was an honour to be asked by the prime minister,” Grant was quoted as saying, “but in the end that role is just not for me. I like what I am doing now, totally independently, and I don’t have to make my views fit within a party framework.”
In 2016 Grant told the ABC he was “not ideologically bound” to the left and that the National party shared “many core common interests” with Indigenous people, but ruled out standing as a candidate for them. Labor has also tried to recruit Grant in the past.
The Liberals have been left without a candidate in Reid just two months out from the May federal election after the incumbent MP, Craig Laundy, announced he would not recontest the seat.
With a margin of 4.6%, the seat is one of the Liberals’ most vulnerable.
It covers a multicultural swath of Sydney along the western harbour, including suburbs such as Drummoyne, Five Dock, Burwood, Strathfield, Croydon, Rhodes, and parts of Auburn and Lidcombe.
The seat is a must-win for the Liberals if they want to hold on to government.
