Simon Corbell's departure, like Katy Gallagher's before him, leaves an enormous hole in capability and experience in the Labor team, which, lean as it is by virtue of sheer numbers, is now leaner still in politicians you want to have running the territory.
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For all the sense that politics weighed heavily on him, Corbell is the one with big-picture vision and more that that, the experience to see an idea through.
He's not a guy who smiles much, at least so far as his dealings with this media organisation and the political chamber are concerned, but he did smile, even laugh, last week, perhaps with his retirement decision made he was feeling lighter, or perhaps it was the topic at hand – his renewable energy agenda.
This and the tram will be Corbell's legacy. He is on track to deliver a city 90 per cent powered by green energy, mainly wind farms, but also solar and waste-to-energy by 2020. He has a long way to go – only one of perhaps 10 projects is operating so far – but alongside Kate Carnell's never realised "No Waste by 2010", his 90 per cent renewables is looking highly achievable.
The tram has further to go, with a price still unknown but assumed around $800 million for the first 12 kilometres, and a level of community opposition that the Liberals believe could deliver them government next year.
That Corbell, Minister for Capital Metro, will leave government with the ink still wet on the contracts and the first holes in the ground being dug is a political risk for the party he leaves behind, fighting an election on the tram.
The fact that probably only one other renewable-energy project will be operating by the time of the 2016 election is surely also a worry for Corbell (he says not). The Mugga Lane solar farm should be operational, but the third solar farm might not be, the first three wind farms will still be in construction, with the second tranche of wind farms at an early stage. While the heavy work will be done, the projects will still need political leadership.
Corbell's portfolios in themselves speak volumes about his pivotal role in government – not only renewables and the tram, but health, the most contentious of all portfolios.
Not only is he sticking around till the election (having been elected himself mid-term on a countback in 1997), but he will stay in the key ministries till then as well. You have to ask why. And you might answer by casting your eye around the alternatives: Joy Burch, Mick Gentleman and Yvette Berry in the ministry and Meegan Fitzharris, Mary Porter and Chris Bourke on the backbench.
Ms Berry, interestingly enough given Corbell's early experiences under the leadership of her father Wayne Berry, seems a shoo-in for deputy once Corbell departs, partly because of her faction and her sex, but also as she's clearly a stand-out for the party's future leadership. But she's new in the Assembly, only just joined the ministry, and could hardly be thrust into complex portfolio and the deputy leadership right now. It's no wonder Andrew Barr is keeping Corbell on till the next election.
After that, well, with two the most experienced hands in Gallagher and Corbell gone, the Labor line-up will be fascinating to see. Labor might well still win, but its capability will rest significantly on the fresh faces.
