On the occasion of Senator Nick Minchin’s announcement today that he will not stand for re-election as a Senator for South Australia, I take this opportunity to thank him for his extraordinary 33 years of professional service to the Liberal Party, the people of South Australia and our nation more broadly.

A well-respected and professional servant of the Liberal Party, Nick joined the Federal Secretariat of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1977 rising to the position of Deputy Federal Director in 1983. His campaigning skill and political acumen saw him take on the role as State Director for the Liberal Party’s South Australian Division in 1985 where he served with distinction until 1993 when he was elected to the Australian Senate to represent the people of South Australia.

Nick has made an enormous contribution to the Liberal Party and Australian public life in a parliamentary career spanning two decades.

http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/LatestNews/PressReleases/tabid/86/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7311/Retirement-of-Senator-the-Hon-Nick-Minchin.aspx

Gus: twaddle of the greatest unimportance from another annoying character...

Let's rejoice... Minchin is going, going, gone... I was going to say that people like Minchin are as important as a decrepit local aberdashery store... but that would be an insult to the store owners. Minchin did more damage to this country that he did any good... He had no vision, beyond the "that-is"... Minchin was a bean-counter of no consequence, apart from dunking people in the toilet...

An unabashed constitutional monarchist, Senator Minchin and Mr Abbott played key roles in the campaign that killed the push for a republic.

''Nothing in my long career of campaigning has given me greater pleasure than the comprehensive rejection of the republican model,'' he said. ''One cause I will remain actively involved in after I leave this place is advocacy of the virtues of our current constitutional arrangements.''

Senator Minchin's immediate challenge is his role as chief number cruncher for the Liberal Party national president, Alan Stockdale, who will be challenged for the position on Saturday by the former minister, Peter Reith.

Nick Minchin's appraisal of his contribution to public life after 18 years in the Senate beggars belief (''Exit Minchin, unabashed monarchist to the end'', June 22).

His highlight was the campaign of disinformation he successfully waged to defeat minimalist constitutional change for an Australian republic. His lowlight was his own failure to challenge John Howard's disinformation about the reasons for invading Iraq.

Minchin now retires on a generous parliamentary pension, probably to pen his memoirs. Might I suggest an appropriate title: Confessions of an Inveterate Invertebrate.

Tom Falkingham Edgecliff

Minchin, by not deviating from his core beliefs despite enormous pressure to do so, had orchestrated the dramatic events that led to the end of Turnbull as Liberal leader and the shocking emergence of Tony Abbott as his replacement. Abbott has never looked back and the polls say that if an election were held next week he would become prime minister with a thumping majority.

This would have seemed like political pulp fiction just two years ago. Minchin, the factional chieftain, policy heavyweight, former leader of the government in the Senate, and the most senior surviving member of the opposition, had not just installed Abbott, he also provided the ballast for an untested new leader and a party that had churned through five leaders or leadership contenders - John Howard, Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Costello and Joe Hockey - in just two years. It was unsustainable carnage.

Yet when I asked Minchin, about six months after the tumultuous events of December 1, 2009, if Abbott was using him as his chief confidant, he replied, ''No.'' Was Abbott seeking his counsel often? ''No.''

That would not change. This helped account for Minchin's subdued mood in the Boat House on Friday night.

The campaign for party presidency told a sorry story of modern politics.

Peter Reith sticks out in a crowd. He's a cartoonist's dream, with physical quirks that somehow reflect and amplify his unconventional views. Small target, he isn't.

The Liberal Party was offered a choice at the weekend between a federal president who would zip it and a president who wouldn't. It wrestled inelegantly and stuck with Mr Backroom, Alan Stockdale. (''Stop leaking!'' Stockdale's leaked campaign emails had thundered censoriously last week.)

Reith lost by the narrowest of margins, one vote, for a combination of reasons.

He was resolutely independent at a time when the Liberal Party's factions are fixated on the inexorable creep of their hegemony. The national Right had installed a leader in Tony Abbott, and would now make the president's vote another ritualised display of influence.

Reith is not a joiner; his observance of the religion of individualism makes him an equal-opportunity buster of closed shops, whether they be on the waterfront or in his own plushly carpeted backyard. He made a tactical error, rallying the vice-presidents to come out for him publicly - reinforcing his appetite for the dangerously unsubtle. (Imagine campaigning for the president's job! How crass.)

FORMER prime minister John Howard's 2001 decision to use the armed forces to turn away boatloads of asylum seekers was resented by sailors and soldiers who had to carry out his orders, retired senior military officers have revealed.

While many cheered in 2001 when Mr Howard ordered the armed forces to stop the boats, those who carried out the order were silent.

But 10 years later, some are speaking out. They reveal that one of the most popular decisions taken by a federal government was resented by many who had to put the prime minister's words into effect.

Some mock the government's rationale for stopping the boats. Some accuse the government of exploiting the military and misappropriating its courage for political gain.

They include retired senior officers who were at the centre of events that unfolded over three hectic months, when domestic and international currents combined to change Australian history

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/military-resented-howard-20110702-1gw3t.html#ixzz1R1MOnYvJ