The 74-year-old, who "pulled the plug" exactly 11 years after being sworn in, said health issues had forced his early departure from the Upper House.

"What I'm trying to do is get my life back," he told the Port Macquarie News.

"When you are a solitary member of a party on your own, you are more on our own than you are in your entire life. You get lobbied on absolutely everything."

Mr Tingle rates his greatest political achievements as getting six pieces of legislation through including the Home Invasion Bill which gives occupants of a house a parliament-guaranteed right of self-defence.

But he is frank in his description of parliament as "bloody hard work".

"I'm a journalist not a politician," he said.

"I had 46 years and three days in the media before this and I really thought I knew parliament because I had covered it ... but it's been more than a steep learning curve, it's been a steep, vertical climb.

"I won't forget in a hurry, it's been torturous at times."

Mr Tingle's "most unpleasant memory" was the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre on April 28, 1996.

"My wife and I got death threats for several months and were followed by a bodyguard from Special Branch," he said.

"It's very weird having all that hatred directed at you."

Mr Tingle enjoyed "putting Port Macquarie on the map" with the government but found political life frustrating.

"I live with a sense of frustration because you go in thinking you can do all sorts of things then realise (parliament) is a big, immovable machine," he said.

While Mr Tingle's eight-year term does not expire until 2011, it was his diagnosis with aggressive prostate cancer late last year that forced his hand to retire.

"I'm healthy and fit at the moment, I just feel tired and sick of this place," he said.

Mr Tingle undergoes three-monthly tests and won't get the final all-clear until 2009.

"I'm going to do a few things for myself, like reading the books I've never had time to read and doing some fishing with my 92-year-old neighbour from across the road," he said.

"I don't intend to take part in public life too much, I just want to get my health back in order."

The health scare was a wake-up call for Mr Tingle whose father died from prostate cancer in 1994.

"I've been working for 56-and-a-half years and that's enough for anybody," he said.

"My wife has been my mainstay through all this and she's really pleased that I'm going to be home more."

Parliament is expected to today vote to elect 56-year-old businessman and Shooters Party member Robert Brown to serve the remainder of Mr Tingle's term.