After almost two decades as a federal Labor MP, Graham Perrett has decided to retire, setting up a battle in his marginal Queensland seat.
The longtime Labor left warrior and author known for his morning walk playlists, committee work, “white line fever” in MP sporting matches and jovial nature told Guardian Australia it was “just time”.
“I ran in 2004, unsuccessfully, so it has been 20 years of this stuff and it is just time to move on to another challenge,” the 58-year-old said.
“I’m just young enough to get another career doing something else. So it’s time to give someone younger, give someone else a go.”
Reflecting on his career, Perrett said people shouldn’t underestimate the influence of backbenchers or those on committees whose work is often unheralded but can bring about real change.
“I think marginal seat members who speak to their leaders make for better governments because you say this is what people care about in the marginal seats and they’re the people whose minds can be changed by circumstances, rather than rusted on to either party,” he said.
“So I think that is crucial and I think I’ve spoken up judiciously. I’ve certainly felt that I’ve been listened to.”
Perrett made the decision to walk away in recent weeks, ahead of the Greens’ announcement it had recruited the 35-year-old social worker and organiser of the Justice for Palestine group, Remah Naji, as their candidate.
Perrett knows Naji, a Palestinian-Australian. Like Queensland Greens firebrand Max Chandler-Mather, Naji used to be a Labor member.
“She used to work on my campaigns. I’ve door-knocked with her,” he said.
Asked about Labor members turning to the Greens, Perrett said people had their own motivations. He said he’d seen “how perfect can be the enemy of the good” and that “good government is about progressive, gradual, real change”.
“And if you look back for the last 130 years, all of that in Australia has been delivered by the Labor party.”
“I mean there’s a time when [the Greens] need to accept that the good things that come from institutional government of locking in [change], rather than having policies unpicked by the Tony Abbotts of this world.”
Perrett said “the Greens come in and think that this is some low-hanging fruit that is their right, because they think we’ve done all the hard work for them. But there’s a little bit of fighting to be done in the trenches”.
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Moreton, Queensland’s most culturally diverse electorate, has long been on the Greens’ hitlist but Perrett said he and Labor had fought off many challenges since he took the seat from the former Liberal MP Gary Hardgrave in 2007.
Perrett surprised most political watchers by holding on in the 2013 swing against Labor, despite his slim margin.
“I’ve seen more safer seats than Moreton fall by the wayside – in 2013 about 13 or 14 seats with bigger margins than mine fell away, whereas Moreton had a swing to it.”
He said there “is a bit more work to do” but “I’ll be doing my darndest to make sure that Moreton stays in the hands of the Labor party”.
As long as Moreton remains a marginal seat, Perrett said he believes Labor values will mean the party continues to hold it.
“It’s the most multicultural electorate in Queensland, which is a significant thing in terms of the diaspora you have to be able to speak to,” he said.
“There are significant Chinese community, Taiwanese, Korean, Muslim communities from around Africa, north-east and south and the Vietnamese community. So lots of different communities to speak to. Then you’ve got some of the wealthier parts of Brisbane and some battle areas of Brisbane industry belts.
“You’ve got to be nimble, prepared to get out and talk to people about what’s important to them. Cost of living and education and health were the things I was retailing 20 years ago and they’re still pretty important things in my electorates.”
The former Queensland Labor state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell is expected to win preselection to replace Perrett, but the decision is yet to be finalised.
