was a budding political consultant and "they're the party around here, I'm a young bloke, I need a job." (Port Macquarie and its predecessor seat, Oxley, had been in the hands of a conservative party without interruption since 1927, and in the hands of the Nationals for all but six years since 1944.) He added that he didn't think the Nationals didn't do "enough due diligence on me" prior to clearing him to stand for Port Macquarie. He also questioned the relevance of the Nationals in an electorate transformed by demographic change and the growth of tourism. Increasingly, he concluded that as long as he remained in the National party room, he would be "a square peg in a round hole." He believed that he had three options–spend a decade in the legislature as a "robotron" National member, quit politics, or run as an independent. Oakeshott resigned from both the shadow cabinet and the National Party on 9 March 2002. He subsequently retained the seat as an independent at the 2003 New South Wales State election, gaining 69.75% of the primary vote, compared to 14% for the National Party candidate. After preferences, he won 82 percent of the two-candidate vote, making Port Macquarie the safest seat in the legislature. He retained the seat almost as easily in 2007, winning 78 percent of the vote after preferences were distributed. During his tenure as the state member for Port Macquarie Oakeshott completed a law degree at Macquarie University. Federal parliament There were suggestions that Oakeshott would stand as an independent candidate at the 2004 federal election against his former boss and National Party leader Mark Vaile in the seat of Lyne, based on Port Macquarie, but he did not nominate. First term In April 2008, following the defeat of the Howard Government, Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan approached Oakeshott to consider standing as a joint Liberal-National candidate in Lyne should Vaile retire and a by-election be called. He did not comment at the time because Vaile had not announced his intentions. After Vaile announced his resignation from Parliament on 19 July 2008, Oakeshott announced that he would consider standing for the seat in the ensuing by-election. On 5 August 2008 Oakeshott resigned from the NSW parliament to stand as an independent candidate at the federal by-election for Lyne. His advisor, Peter Besseling, won the by-election for his state seat. Oakeshott won virtually every