In a fresh blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government, MP Ann Sudmalis will reportedly announce she will not contest her seat in the next federal election.

Ms. Sudmalis has represented the southern NSW coastal seat of Gilmore since 2013.  But she holds it with a margin of just 0.7 percent and has faced a preselection challenge from Grant Schultz, who worked for the Australian Federal Police for 30 years before moving to to Milton in 2009 and establishing a real estate agency in 2012. 

When he announced his intention to seek preselection, Mr. Schultz portrayed himself as a man of the people who was not involved in the Liberal Party's factional fighting.  Scott Morrison was one of Sudmalis's biggest supporters, but she appears to have turned down his calls not to leave, according to reports on the Nine Network.  Labor has selected former teacher and mother-of-four Fiona Phillips, as its candidate.

This comes as the Liberals are under fire for a lack of female representation, and amid claims from female MPs that they were bullied during the brutal leadership spill.  Victorian Liberal MP Julia Banks cited these pressures late last month when she announced she would also not be recontesting her marginal Chisholm seat.