After suffering three heart attacks and requiring four bypass surgeries, Geoff Brock has left South Australia’s cabinet on his doctor’s advice.
The minister for local government and veterans’ affairs choked back tears as he made the announcement today, which sparked a cabinet reshuffle.
“I recognise it’s time to step back in the best interests of my health, my family and my constituents,” Brock said.
“If I’m not going to do something properly, I don’t want to do it at all.”
The independent MP has served in two Labor cabinets.
First, he was rewarded by then-premier Jay Weatherill for handing Labor government back in 2014.
Then he served in Peter Malinauskas’s cabinet after the 2022 election.
The 74-year-old will remain the member for the mid-north seat of Stuart and hopes to run again.
“Everyone would agree that Geoff is a really good person, a bloody good human being and I’ve really appreciated Geoff’s friendship over a long period of time now,” Peter Malinauskas said.
The vacant seat at the cabinet table will become yet another tactical reward for a key independent MP.
After quitting the Liberal party, Hills MP Dan Cregan agreed to support a Labor government, which earned him the coveted speaker’s chair.
He’s now been elevated further, gaining a place in the ministry.
Leon Bignell will become speaker in his place, but after Cregan forced the government to introduce laws that the speaker always be independent, the long-term member for Mawson has resigned from the Labor party to take up his new job.
The appointment means existing crossbencher Nick McBride has been overlooked for the role.