on the Office of the Ombudsman and the Police Integrity Commission: May 2003- Mar 2007 Committee on the Health Care Complaints Commission: May 2003 - Mar 2011 General Purposes Standing Committee No. 4: Jul 2003 - Mar 2011 General Purpose Standing Committee No. 2: May 2011 - Mar 2015 Select Committee into the Closure of the Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre of Excellence: Jul 2012 - Oct 2012 Select Committee on the partial defence of provocation: Jun 2012 - Apr 2013 Select Committee on the closure or downsizing of Corrective Services NSW facilities: Sep 2012 - Jun 2013 Select Committee on social, public and affordable housing: May 2014 - Sep 2014 Select Committee on home schooling: Jun 2014 - Dec 2014 Privileges Committee: Aug 2013 - Mar 2015 Portfolio Committee No. 4 - Legal Affairs: May 2015 - Mar 2019 In February 2010, Clarke won preselection against David Elliott, the chief executive of the Civil Contractors Federation to ensure he can continue to serve on the New South Wales Legislative Council. He announced his retirement in September 2018 and did not contest the 2019 state election. Political viewpoints Clarke has spoken frequently on his political viewpoints stating that they naturally reflect the Liberal Party. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that "I work on the premise that most people have conservative values in the Liberal Party and that my values are in alignment with theirs." Clarke is a self-described strong supporter of the constitutional monarchy, "traditional marriage," free speech, freedom of religion, and free enterprise. In his first speech in 2003, Clarke promised to "uphold and advocate the conservative, mainstream and Christian-based truths and values that I believe our nation is based upon … with missionary zeal", advocated state sovereignty, the decentralisation of government power, and stated that "I respect the right of individuals to live their lives as they choose, unmolested and without harassment and persecution, provided they do not bring harm to others or to institutions and concepts that protect others." Clarke's views have been labelled by political opponents as "ultra-conservative" and those held by some in the Christian Right of the Liberal Party (such as his opposition to the "culture of abortion" and opposition to euthanasia). While he describes Australia as "a Christian nation" and argues that there is nothing wrong with religious values influencing legislation on the age of consent, abortion and euthanasia, he denies that his