Deputy PM's resignation reshuffles Australian political landscape

CANBERRA - Australia's political landscape was reshaped yesterday as Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, the leader of minor Coalition partner the Nationals, quit both jobs and prepared to ride out his last term in Parliament on the back benches.

The move, prompted by health problems and political exhaustion, will force changes in Prime Minister John Howard's ministerial line-up and require a new National leader to stem a steady decline in the party's standing.

Neither will have any early impact on the Government, which on July 1 assumes absolute power in both Houses of Parliament, cementing its ascendancy over a languishing Labor Opposition that late yesterday was preparing to announce its own front bench reshuffle.

But Anderson's successor will not only need to confront his party's long-term malaise, but to also control wilful MPs prepared to fight key Government initiatives from within - particularly the proposed sale of the state's remaining majority stake in telecommunications giant Telstra.

Telstra's future will play a significant role in the fortunes of National, whose crumbling power base depends on its ability to protect the interests of rural and regional Australia, importantly including telecommunications.

The potential for internal disruption of Howard's new reform agenda was demonstrated by his softening of the mandatory detention regime for illegal immigrants, forced as a compromise to counter much stronger measures demanded by a rebel Liberal backbencher, Petro Georgiou.

Responsibility for the Nationals is likely to pass to deputy leader and Trade Minister Mark Vaille, whose earlier ambitions to take the reins were thwarted when Anderson toyed with, then rejected, stepping down before the last election.

In his resignation speech yesterday, Anderson gave his blessing to Vaille's leadership.

"Mark Vaille has done an outstanding job as deputy leader of the Nationals, and as Trade Minister. He certainly has my total backing as the next leader. He will bring energy, commitment and insight to the job."

Traditionally the coalition agreement has placed the National leader as deputy leader of the overall Coalition.

Anderson, who has represented the sparsely populated seat of Gwydir, sprawling over 114,000sq km of northwestern New South Wales since 1989, admitted yesterday that he no longer had the political fire burning in his belly.

"I do not share the great personal passion for politics that many parliamentarians so admirably possess."

His decision to retire was the result of a combination of circumstances, including a "debilitating but thankfully benign" prostate condition.

"It is not life-threatening, but the clear medical advice given me is that it will not improve so long as I lead the lifestyle that comes with being not only local member, but minister of a demanding and complicated portfolio, party leader, and Deputy Prime Minister as well."

He also said he had achieved most of what he had set out to do, including the development of a national water policy and a new national land transport plan.

Anderson was widely regarded as a politician of integrity and ability.