ONE of the good guys and quiet achievers behind the The Nationals WA political resurgence in recent years is stepping out of the public limelight, in typical no-nonsense style.
Grant Woodhams has declared he won't be seeking re-election for his State seat of Moore at the March 9 State election and is looking forward to starting home renovations and spending quiet family time in Geraldton.
Mr Woodhams was first elected to State Parliament in 2005 after winning what was then the Mid West coastal seat of Greenough.
But he faced stiff competition at the 2008 election from the WA Liberal Party's former Shadow Agriculture Minister Gary Snook, who was tipped to hold onto the portfolio.
Greenough was amalgamated with Mr Snook's seat of Moore under the one vote, one value legislation, which Mr Woodhams eventually won, after achieving a swing of almost 10 per cent to The Nationals on primary vote alone.
After The Nationals WA claimed the balance of power and formed government with the Liberals following a tense week of negotiations, the former ABC weatherman, experienced rural reporter and lifetime speedway enthusiast was elevated to the prestigious position as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The Speaker's role is one he's cherished dearly over the past five years and fulfilled with extreme passion, pride and commitment to his State.
Although he's going to miss representing the State's primary producers and Parliament on diplomatic, trade tours to countries like China, India and Japan, he's highly relaxed and comfortable with his retirement decision.
Mr Woodhams said his retirement resulted from an epiphany experienced during a recent visit to see his father in hospital, after a hip operation.
He walked into the hospital room where his father was recovering from treatment and walked straight past after failing to recognise his mum and dad.
"I walked over to the next bed in the hospital room and said, 'this isn't my dad' and then realised the man and woman I'd just walked past were my parents," he said.
"My thoughts after that were about spending more time with my family and what's important in life.
"I'd always felt family was important to me and thought I really believed in those values but that was a really challenging moment for me.
"I decided I wanted to actually spend more time with my family and with my wife Gabrielle and daughter Phoebe.
"My parents are in their 80s now and I've had a great marriage but have hardly seen my wife during the past eight years.
"My daughter has also grown up through her primary school years and has now finished school and is out in the world now, qualified and travelling.
"I thought other things are important to me in life and politics isn't number one.
"It was a hard decision to make because I've really enjoyed the people in the National Party in every sense and how we work together as individuals and as a team.
"But I thought the best thing I could do was to be up front about how I felt and say I wanted to get out of politics and these are the reasons why.
"I don't want to hang on forever and develop a blinkered view of the world where everything is about politics, so the time was right for me."
Mr Woodhams said he didn't have a goal when he first entered politics, apart from getting elected.
Once he was elected in 2005, his next goal was to get re-elected in 2008.
His main ambition has been to accurately represent the views of those people in his electorate and fight hard for the rural issues he's so passionate about.
"There are many things that frustrate me about politics and the process of parliament and that doesn't matter if you're a National Party member or from any other political persuasion," he said.
"I think I've probably over-achieved in my political career.
"I didn't aim to be the Speaker and that's been a huge privilege and one I'd like to think I've brought honour to."
Mr Woodhams said being the face of the WA parliament and an important diplomat was a job that extended beyond party politics.
It's also been hard work for him and far from being a paid holiday as some people have misleadingly suggested.
His work in developing strong trading relationships and maintaining strong, positive relationships with WA's sister States in Japan and China, has presented some great opportunities for him to showcase his farming and agricultural knowledge and seize or build on initiatives for the rural sector.
In particular, WA's sister State relationship with the Zhejiang Province south of Shanghai on the south east coast of China, which has a population of about 50 million people, presents strong agricultural opportunities that align with WA.
"From an agricultural perspective, I'm probably the best speaker WA's ever had," he said in light of his strong rural background.
"When you can go into Japan, which is a big beer drinking country, and sit down with people and talk about malting barley and different crop varieties, they are quite stunned to see that a politician has that level of industry knowledge and can also elaborate on trade opportunities with WA, which they may want to investigate.
"It's been a very successful appointment in terms of agricultural opportunities and trade.
"Quite often when I've gone into meetings in China or Japan and the translators say that I'm a farmer's son, it immediately gets everyone's attention.
"They think, 'he's not just a career bureaucrat' and look at you with different eyes and appreciate that you've come to meet them with practical knowledge, not just a political background."
Mr Woodhams was reluctant to discuss how the speaker's role has been treated in Federal politics over the past year or more, with Peter Slipper's elevation and Harry Jenkins's sudden resignation, amid tight political manoeuvring in the hung parliament.
But he said regardless of State or Federal politics, the position demands "absolute neutrality" and to represent parliament, rather than any personal or party political interests.
"I always likened my role to that of a football umpire," he said.
"At the end of the game if nobody's noticed me and it was a good game of footy as far as the spectators are concerned, then that's brilliant.
"But if the umpire is intervening all of the time, that's not so good.
"It's a pity about what's happening at federal level because circumstances have made it so the trigger is cocked on the gun, all of the time, so to speak."
After the 2008 election result produced a hung parliament, Mr Woodhams returned home to Geraldton for the week.
He left the decision on whether to side with the ALP or Liberals up to a negotiating team that he "had absolute faith in" and was willing to go along with any decision they made, at the conclusion of those tense discussions and negotiations.
"At the end of the process they wanted my opinion on what I felt should happen and I let them know, and it was guided very much by what I felt my electorate wanted," he said.
"My feeling was the electorate wanted a change of government and did not want the sitting Labor government to continue.
"My simple message was; I didn't think there'd be any support for an alliance with Labor."
Mr Woodhams said Royalties for Regions had helped correct the unhealthy imbalance between rural WA and the Perth metropolitan area, which needed to happen "at a substantial level".
But he said that must continue to happen, with greater recognition and extension in all government departments with responsibility to rural and regional WA.
He said some major challenges remained to ensure government departments recognised and responded to the different needs and demands of regional WA.
At the 2013 election, he's hoping the WA Nationals return to power, with Liberal partners, to continue the good work that was started in 2008, in re-generating rural WA.
"There's a lot more work to be done," he said.
"Some people in the WA parliament look at Royalties for Regions and say the program could be easily dismantled, and the funds redistributed to other programs and that it will just be a little blimp in the State's history.
"But it would be great if the program was still in place in 20 or 40 years time and you talk to someone in the WA Nationals then and they say, 'there's still a lot more work to be done'.
"As you say, it's just like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge because when you think you've finished, you just have to go back and start the job all over again."