Former South Australian health minister Stephen Wade to resign from state parliament
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Former South Australian health minister Stephen Wade has announced he is quitting state parliament, opening up a position in the Legislative Council.
He said late on Friday he would leave the upper house before parliament resumes on February 7.
The Liberal Party will now have to choose a replacement to sit in parliament.
Mr Wade was South Australia's health minister for the Liberals' entire term in power from March 2018 to March 2022, including at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 62-year-old was first elected to parliament as a member of the upper house in 2006 and became a shadow minister in 2014.
"It has been a privilege to serve the people of South Australia in the parliament for almost 17 years," Mr Wade said in a statement.
"It was an extraordinary honour to serve as health minister and chair of the national health ministers' meeting during a once-in-a-century pandemic.
"I am deeply grateful to my wife, Tracey, former premier Steven Marshall and the Liberal Party whose support made this service possible."
The Liberal government lost the state election last March after a strong Labor campaign about ambulance waiting times outside hospitals.
Mr Wade was health minister when the Repatriation General Hospital reopened in 2020 after being closed by the former Labor government in 2017.
Government minister Tom Koutsantonis acknowledged Mr Wade "did a very good job" dealing with the pandemic.
He urged other former government ministers, including former premier Steven Marshall, to consider leaving now rather than forcing by-elections later in the term.
"I'd imagine the right thing to do is to do them altogether," he said.
"If there are any others, they should all do it at once, not in a staggered approach, which is inconvenient to voters and taxpayers."
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