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Tim Wilson resigns to seek Liberal preselection for seat of Goldstein Tim Wilson resigns to seek Liberal preselection for seat of Goldstein
(about 4 hours later)
The human rights commissioner, Tim Wilson, has announced his resignation from the commission to run for federal parliament in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein. The human rights commissioner Tim Wilson has resigned to seek Liberal party preselection in Andrew Robb’s Victorian seat.
Wilson, a former Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) policy director whose appointment to the Human Rights Commission attracted controversy, announced the decision on Monday.
He is seeking to contest the seat of Goldstein after Robb, the outgoing minister for trade, decided to retire from politics at this year’s election.
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The former Institute of Public Affairs director will seek Liberal preselection for the seat, which is now held by the retiring trade minister Andrew Robb. Wilson, who is just two years into his five-year term at the commission, said he was “very proud” of his work including boosting the profile and importance of free speech and religious freedom.
Robb, however, has indicated that he wants a woman to take over when he retires at the next federal election. Those comments sparked speculation that Alexander Downer’s daughter Georgina Downer could have Robb’s backing. “The role of Australia’s human rights commissioner is to start these conversations. It is up to the parliament to finish them,” he said in a statement.
Wilson has served two years of his five-year posting as human rights commissioner, and says it has been the “most invaluable” experience of his life. “It’s also the role of the parliament to deal with many other issues that I am passionate about. That’s why I am announcing today my intention to resign the office of Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner effective from Friday, 19 February, to seek preselection to be the Liberal party’s candidate for the federal electorate of Goldstein.
But he says he believes it’s the parliament that can respond best to human rights issues and says the people of Goldstein deserve someone who will fight for them. “This is not a time to be timid. It’s a time to be bold,” he said in his resignation statement on Monday. “This is a tough decision for me, but the right one. The people of Goldstein deserve someone who will fight for them.”
“Our country faces big challenges: debt and deficits, high taxes and youth unemployment, to name a few.” Wilson said parliament needed people who were prepared to take responsibility, make tough decisions and work to fix problems.
Wilson pledged to continue supporting the work of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, Mick Gooda, regardless of what happens with preselection. “This is not a time to be timid. It’s a time to be bold,” he said. “Our country faces big challenges: debt and deficits, high taxes and youth unemployment, to name a few.”
Robb said last week he hoped there would be a strong female candidate in the race to succeed him because “the country needs more strong female candidates in the parliament” - a comment that was seen as a strong endorsement of Georgina Downer, the daughter of former foreign minister Alexander Downer.
The attorney general, George Brandis, appointed Wilson as the so-called “freedom commissioner” to a five-year term shortly after the 2013 election, saying the Human Rights Commission had been taking “a narrow and selective view of the statutory function and failed to give sufficient attention to freedom as one of the most fundamental human rights”.
Related: Respecting religious freedom has become more complex, Tim Wilson saysRelated: Respecting religious freedom has become more complex, Tim Wilson says
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said Wilson had done the right thing by resigning from his post. But he warned against waiting too long to replace him, like the five months it took the government to fill the former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick’s shoes. Wilson resigned from the IPA and as a member of the Victorian division of the Liberal party when he took up the position.
“I think there’s a concern if the position is allowed to remain vacant for too long,” Dreyfus told ABC radio. His appointment drew criticism because the IPA had previously called for the abolition of the Human Rights Commission.
In a Senate estimates committee hearing last week, Labor asked Wilson to rule himself out of any preselections while he occupied his current role. “I will not engage in hypotheticals about what I would do in the future,” he replied.
Labor’s shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the government should ensure no repeat of the “shameful” five-month delay in filling the position of sex discrimination commissioner.
“He [Wilson] has certainly done the right thing in completely resigning from his very high office,” Dreyfus told the ABC on Monday.