Labor has its sights on winning Parramatta on the back of its success in the federal seat,which was won by economist and former ALP political adviser Andrew Charlton. The state Liberals hold Parramatta with a margin of 10.6 per cent.
Nominations for other Liberal key seats including North Shore and Vaucluse,which is being vacated by former attorney-general Gabrielle Upton,also closed at 5pm on Monday.
Lee’s resignation follows that of Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello,who announced last week that he would not recontest his seat of Ryde in March.
Dominello will remain in cabinet until the election,however,other retirements will prompt Perrottet to reshuffle his cabinet after budget estimates hearings conclude in September.
Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes is also widely tipped to announce his retirement when nominations for the final tranche of safe Liberal seats open in the next few weeks.
Perrottet also has other cabinet vacancies,after former trade minister Stuart Ayres stood down over his role in the John Barilaro trade appointment saga and former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos was removed from cabinet over bullying allegations.
Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis also announced on Monday that he would be retiring from politics and would not be contesting his seat of Clarence.