By DAN MOSS, STATE PARLIAMENT EDITOR
GREATER Dandenong voters will head back to the polls after Lyndhurst MP Tim Holding last Friday announced he was putting politics aside after 15 years in public life.
The byelection date has not yet been set but the Greens have already said they will run for the lower house seat.
Mr Holding, who is currently the shadow treasurer and was a police and water minister in the Bracks and Brumby governments, said his greatest achievement in the electorate was “investment in our local schools”.
He said he would spend two months considering his future but ruled out federal politics.
Mr Holding was elected to Springvale in 1999 before a redivision abolished the seat and created Lyndhurst, a safe Labor seat that he won in 2002. He was a Waverley councillor from 1992 to 1994.
Greens leader Greg Barber said he aimed to make the byelection a referendum on transport. He said it was too early to say who his candidate would be.
Mr Holding acknowledged that a byelection would be an inconvenience but said he had decided not to serve as a minister in event of a returned Labor government.
“It’s only fair to step aside and give Daniel and my colleagues the opportunity to select a team that will take Labor to the next election.”
Mr Holding, a former soldier and a hiker, said he wanted to play a role in getting young people to discover the outdoors and was going to keep fit while choosing his next role.
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said another MP would be chosen today to take on Mr Holding’s portfolios of shadow treasurer and industry spokesman.
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