There's one question Julia Banks is asked over and over.
I get asked, why did you join the Liberal Party in the first place.
It's a question she's been grappling with again in why of the parties devastating election loss and the existential questions it faces about his future. But looking back, she could see why she was drawn in at.
The time ten years ago. I saw good people in the Liberal Party in Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop, Kelly O Dwyer. I was aligned to their values, but their true irony of the answer to that question is they were calling for more women at the time and so I thought, okay, I'll join.
Julia went on to win the seat of Chisholm in twenty sixteen, but just two years later she wanted out.
The Liberal Party has changed largely due to the actions of the reactionary and regressive right wing, who talk about and talk to themselves rather than listening to the people.
Today, the Liberal Party will meet to elect a new leader, and whoever wins will need to decide whether to learn from the mistakes of the past and what the future of the party should be. From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven am today former Liberal MP Julia Banks on what it's like to be a woman in the Liberal Party and whether the party can change this Tuesday, May thirteen. So, Julia, I want to talk to you about your decision ten years ago now to leave the
corporate world and join the Liberal Party. What was it like stepping into that world?
Oh, it was pretty stunning. I often describe it as like mad Men meets House of Cards. For example, you know, I was pre selected in the set of Chisholm, and I technically lived a couple of kilometers from the nearest boundary to Chisholm. And it was after my pre selection that a local branch official said, oh, and by the way, you should take out a rental in Chishm so you can pretend that you live in Chism. He said, just take out a rental or one bedroom rental, and your
kids can stay overnight a few nights. Awake your kids and your husband and da dah. And I said, I said to him, like staggered. I said, I am not going to start my political career on a lie. And he just looked at me and he said, well, you're a useless candidate and you're going to be a fucking hopeless politician if you can't lie. I just thought, okay, this is the beginning. So yeah, there you go.
So that's quite a baptism afire. What other advice were you given when you stepped into the world of politics.
Well, sexism was extraordinary, and the misogyny. You know. I remember once a senior official was going to be speaking at an event and again the branch official said, so he'll be speaking, and he'll be speaking, and he'll be speaking. And it was in my electorate of Chisholm, and I'd been pre selected by that stage, and I said, well what about me, and he said, oh, don't worry, darling, we'll give you the raffle. It was. It was right out there. It was amazing, gown.
I'm trying not to swear.
Believe me, I've done a lot of that.
So you hit a parliament in twenty sixteen under the leadership of Malcolm Tempule, who famously loved to say that women hold up part the sky.
If you want to join up, yeah, women, Yeah, we need more more more female, more female candidates.
No, that's great.
Women, women hold up half the sky. And you know the would be they would like them to hold up a larger part of the of the parliamentary seats as well.
So very malcolm type quote. So did you get a sense at all that things were heading in the right direction while you're in the parliament?
Look, I think under the leadership of Turnbull it would be naive to say there weren't the rumblings of the right wing, but they got their way in twenty eighteen. But then it's no coincidence that after the leadership coup I ultimately quit the party three months later. The Member for Chisholm, missus speaker on indulgence, May I make a personal statement?
Yes, the Member for Chisholm.
They proceed, Thank you, mister Speaker. It was important to me to say on handsard that my values haven't changed. The liberal values have My sensible centrist values belief in economic responsibility and focus on always putting the people first and acting in the nation's interest have not changed. And that was when I went to the cross bench.
Why did you leave the way that you did.
I knew immediately after the leadership coup, literally days that I was not going to continue, and I intended to issue a statement to say I wasn't going to recontest the next election, which in fact i'd prepared, I'd given Morrison notice. They didn't want me to do that. I got phone calls from Morrison, from Friedenberg, from all over
and I don't do that, don't do that. They were trying to make me wait, and I said no, no, I am going to do this, and I promised Morrison like he was really adamant, did I not do it? And then finally he said, well, give me twenty four hours and don't speak to the media. And I agreed to both those things, which is a huge mistake because of course they use that twenty four hours to background the media that I'd had some sort of breakdown. And so Morrison's press conference I had the tally on in
the background. Right at the end of the press A journalist said to him, and what do you think about Julia Banks not recontesting the next election? And he said, all I care about is Julie is welfare. And I remember being really confused, really confused, and unfortunately for Morrison, I'm good mates with a couple of journalists and MPs and that's when I discovered that they'd been backgrounding against me, and I thought, look, I'm just going to press on
with every speech. There was a systematic takedown to discredit my reputation. So I went from being the whak pedal to the bully bitch. Was extraordinary. And that was coupled with also sort of what I call patriarchal brides, like we'll make you a minister or will we'll send you to the un directly from Morrison. Those offers, both of which I rejected. And you know it's no coincidence Julie Bishop and Kelly O Dwyer left before the Morrison miracle election.
Mister Speaker, I will leave this place positive about the future, proud of the service that I had been able to give to my electorate of Curtain, my beloved Liberal Party, the state of Western Australia, and my country.
Her successor will have big shoes to fill, and we all know Julie has.
The best shoes in the Parliament and they.
Will indeed take some Philly. I just want to talk more about the fact that she was a tribal lazer.
There's also no coincidence that at that election Zarie Stegel took the seat of Wringer from Tony Abbott.
This is a win for moderates with a heart.
And it's no coincidence that that was the beginning and the rise of Climbate two hundred in terms of supporting the independent movement.
After the break, How should the Liberal Party rebuild? Julia? In the Liberal Party's review after the last election, they identify that they need to do more to attract women, but in the end a lot of safe seats with the men. So what does it say to you about whether the party really does want to reform?
Well, I think the trains left the station. They've wanted that since, as I said before I joined the party, and that's ten years ago. Now, you know, Labor have done a stunning job. They've done a much better job in relation to women, namely because that I mean they introduced quotas twenty five years ago. I made speeches during my time there that they've got to lose the merit myth and introduce quotas. But they have an obstinate rediction of quotas, so who knows what they're going to do.
You know, it's just become a tiresome theme. After every election. It's like, oh, well, you know, women don't like us, so young people don't like us either. Oh, you know, gens out of millennials are the main voters now. Most of them are from migrant heritage or very diverse backgrounds, and they don't appeal to them. And they certainly don't appeal to half the population, which is women. They absolutely don't appeal to women.
Do you get the sense that they're more open to perhaps having a quota system now in light of this result?
It's an interesting question because a lot of the women remaining in the Liberal Party, women like Jane Hume and Micalia Cash, you know, Micaleia Trump is a man of action. Cash, they're sort of caught in this patriarchal vortex as well. They will mirror the comments that come out, you know, in terms of oh no, no, we don't need to go to quotas, you know, we'll just stick with our merit theme. But we will get to fifty percent. And where have those reviews gone? You know, they've been put
on the shelf. I remember there was a review done again ten years ago. More than four people called a review and no one knows where that one went or the other one.
Really, well, let's talk about where we are today. How do you think think the Liberal Party should go about rebuilding if that is possible.
Well, I think the last two elections twenty twenty two and twenty twenty five, the discussion has been about women and how do we rebuild, how do we know? What do we do? It's become a hollow statement to say that they are a party of Mensis. Mensis basically talked about in his famous speech the forgotten people, and that includes salary professionals, the individual liberty and the right to work. The Liberals have forgotten not only women, but GenZ, millennials,
young people, diverse populations. They're the new forgotten people. They are not the party of Mensis anymore. I think our focus should be on the community independence movement, particularly in the urban seats, because we saw in twenty twenty two seismic shift in our political landscape.
The moderate wing of the Liberal Party has been decimated by that TiAl tidal wave. In Sydney and Melbourne seats, at least five climate two hundred back challenges have turfed out high profile Liberals and electorates, once considered the safest of seats.
But the downside of that has been in twenty twenty five they will have less power with Labour's increased majority. So I believe our focus should be more on that community independence movement and how do we make them more powerful? And the way to do that, I believe is to create a community independence party, if not for any other reason, that would also give the country representation in the Senate.
And if people say that it's an a knoxymoron or a contradiction if you have a party of independence, No, it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to follow this formula and have a party formula. But as long as it follows the three pillars of climate integrity and women, the three pillars that will first introduced by Climate two hundred. As long as they're aligned to that, then you can maintain a flexibility.
So you've been involved with Climate two hundred, But what would it take for you to want to join the Liberal Party.
Again, that's a really good question, because I hear so many people, like in the media in business say, oh, the til independence or the community independence, particularly in the cities, they're the sort of women that the Liberal Party need. I can tell you that women they're trying to get, they wouldn't go near the Liberal Party.
Well, Juliet, thank you very much for your time and for your insights.
Thank you so much, Daniel, I really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks again. Cheers.
Also in the US today, Anthony Albernezi has announced his new ministry. Michelle Rowland will become Australia's new Attorney General, replacing Mark Dreyfus, who was ousted due to a factional fight. Tim as Is also been promoted to Minister for Science, Industry and Innovation after Ed Husick was also axed. Mark Butler will keep the Health portfolio and pick up the NDIS, and Murray Watt will become the new Minister for Environment and Water. The ministers will be sworn in at nine
am this morning. And Donald Trump was reportedly about to receive a luxury dumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar. The plane, which is so opulent it is known as a flying palace, could be used as the US President's air Force one. The Qatari government acknowledged the plan, but denied that a final decision had been made. I'm Daniel James. This is seven am. Thanks for listening.