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April 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Liberal MP Alby Schultz’s retirement at the next election could pave the way for the Nationals to take back his rural NSW seat.
But in announcing his intentions, Mr Schultz made it very clear he doesn’t want that to happen.
“I believe a new Liberal candidate in Hume will have a fresh approach and a willingness to work hard in Hume,” he said on Tuesday in a statement.
He said the time was right for him to move on and let another “capable committed Liberal” maintain the party’s brand.
Mr Schultz has represented Hume, centred on Goulburn, since 1998 and spent 25 years in the NSW and federal political arenas.
He is just the second Liberal Party member to hold the seat, which has usually changed hands between Labor and the Nationals or their Country Party predecessors.
Mr Schultz has long defended the right of the Liberal Party to run candidates in rural seats instead of leaving them exclusively to Nationals.
In 2008 he campaigned for an independent running for a NSW state seat against the Nationals, and in 2009 he was involved in a physical confrontation in the Liberals’ party room after speaking heatedly about three-cornered contests.
Nationals NSW senator Fiona Nash said she would not rule out running for preselection to contest Hume at the next election, due in 2013.
“Historically when there’s a retiring member it can be a three-cornered contest but we still have discussions around that,” Senator Nash told AAP on Tuesday.
“I would hope that we would run a National in Hume but that’s a matter for the organisation.
“There’s a state coalition agreement being negotiated between the Liberals and the Nationals at the moment as to who will be running where.”
Senator Nash said it was “no surprise” Mr Schultz would want a Liberal to follow him.
Senator Barnaby Joyce, who leads the Nationals in the Senate, is expected to seek a lower house seat to run for at the next election.
On Tuesday, he ruled out putting his hand up for Hume.
“But I’d like to have fun letting that rabbit run wild,” the Queensland senator said to AAP of the idea.
Coalition leader Tony Abbott congratulated Mr Schultz on his many years of service and said he would be missed.
“Alby was a great fighter for rural Australia and a constant reminder that MPs can be real people, not just identikit apparatchiks,” Mr Abbott told AAP in a statement.
“Often colourful and always a character, Alby has been a true Liberal and an authentic representative of country Australia.”
Mr Schultz said he would use his spare time to help his son, Grant, who is seeking Liberal pre-selection in the neighbouring federal seat of Gilmore.
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