New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has claimed another Labor MP resignation as part of her grand plan to rejuvenate her crumbling caucus.
Embattled Bankstown MP Tony Stewart yesterday announced his retirement from the southwest Sydney electorate the 16th sitting Labor member who's chosen to retire at the March state election.
Stewart is the 16th sitting Labor member who has chosen to retire at the March 2011 election.
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"Some 10 weeks ago I stood before you, the assembled press gallery and the people of NSW, and made clear that I would be taking this government, and particularly this parliamentary caucus, in a new direction," Ms Keneally said on Sunday in Sydney.
"I said I wanted new faces. I wanted the right mixture of fresh blood and experience within our parliamentary ranks and indeed that is what is happening," she said at a press conference in Sydney's west on Sunday.
Mr Stewart, 53, was stripped of the small business and assistant health portfolios in 2008 by former premier Nathan Rees after an independent inquiry ruled he abused a female staff member.
Ms Keneally has welcomed the continued Labor exodus, offering a shot at politics to anyone who is interested.
"It's open for people to put up their hands," she said.
"A new team will be coming forward in the next few weeks."
It is understood that Mr Stewart, a former teacher, will take up work with Father Chris Riley's Youth of the Streets charity.
