Mr Booth, 63, said the death of his father at the weekend had prompted him to reconsider his role in the public eye and made him want to spend more time with his family.

‘‘It basically sharpened my mind about life and the universe and your own mortality,’’ he said.

‘‘It made me reflect on Parliament and what I wanted to do into the future.’’

The Bass MHA says he also wants to give the party a chance to regenerate.

‘‘I’m particularly interested to see younger people getting into Parliament who will be making decisions about their future, rather than a collection of older people making decisions about a future that they’re not going to be part of,’’ he said.

Mr Booth acknowledged that   there had been divergent opinions between himself and fellow MPs Nick McKim and Cassy O’Connor.

‘‘We have policy differences, but it’s not based on personality at times,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s not about personality, it’s about policy.’’

Mr Booth has criticised his own party’s decision to help Labor form a minority government in 2010.

The retirement ends more than three decades in public life for Mr Booth, including a stint as deputy mayor of the Meander Valley Council.

He was elected to Bass in 2002, and held the seat in three subsequent elections.

Mr Booth was a high-profile opponent of the Bell Bay pulp mill  and was a leading figure in the Shreddergate scandal that led to Deputy Premier Steve Kons leaving Parliament.

Mr Booth’s retirement comes just weeks after the resignation of Australian Greens leader Christine Milne, and just days after his chief of staff, Cath Hughes, quit.

Mr Booth’s vacant seat will now be subject to a countback of votes from the 2014 election.

The party says it will not elect a new leader until the countback has been resolved.