 Following the election of the O'Farrell–Stoner Liberal/National coalition government at the 2011 general election, Torbay was replaced as Speaker by the Liberals' Shelley Hancock.At that election, even though he suffered a swing of over 10 percent against him, amid the massive Coalition wave that swept through the state, he managed to retain his seat with a comfortable majority of 19.2 percent.In August 2012, Torbay was pre-selected as the National Party candidate for the federal seat of New England for the 2013 election, challenging former fellow state independent and current sitting member Tony Windsor.