When Julia Gillard failed to win majority government in 2010, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott announced they had struck a deal with the Prime Minister allowing Labor to form a minority government.
Under Windsor's authoritive hand, for three years the pair kept much of the government's legislative program on the conveyor belt. On Wednesday both men announced they would resign, citing family reasons.
Gillard said of her extraordinary partners:
"Tony Windsor long ago earned the respect and affection of his community in New England. In the past three years he had earned the respect and affection of many Australian from all political persuasions. Millions will be sorry to see him depart the Parliament at the coming election and I will be one of them."
"Rob Oakeshott is a man of energy and ideas whose fundamental optimism for Australia endears him to almost everyone who knows him ... He is still a young man with a young family and I know how much he is looking forward to being at home ... Rob smiles easily and wears his heart on his sleeve and politics could do with more of that, not less."
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