Liberal MP David Coleman breaks silence after shock election loss in Banks
If David Coleman bucked the momentous nationwide swing in favour of Labor last Saturday, the quiet yet steady performer of the Liberal front bench could have been the next shadow treasurer.
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Instead, a Labor bloodbath was the death knell on his 15-year political career.
There is little doubt that the recently promoted Banks MP and Coalition foreign affairs spokesman was on the rise. He emerged victorious in an internal brawl over the coveted portfolio, seen as a safe pair of hands and was a strong contender for senior roles in the returning opposition team.
But despite the unrealised potential of what could have been, Coleman is far from bitter.
“That’s OK, that’s democracy. It’s disappointing but that’s the way it goes,” he said in his first interview since the election results.
Banks was held by Labor every term since its creation until Coleman won the seat for the Liberals in 2013.
Not only had the Liberals lost their leader but the Labor bloodbath had also decimated a pipeline of strong performers to take the party forward.
Coleman, widely considered a sensible moderate voice in the shadow cabinet who had recently been elevated to the foreign affairs portfolio over stiff competition, was one of the Liberal’s biggest election casualties.
He is adamant “we should be optimistic about the future of Australia” and is also wary of ripping apart the election result to lay the blame on others for the end of his career in parliament.
“We should be very positive about what we have built,” he said.
“I have a real sense of gratitude and I’m obviously very grateful to Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton for giving me the opportunities for various ministerial and shadow ministerial roles.”
If he retained his seat he would have been a strong contender for opposition treasurer.
The former media executive who left a senior executive role at Nine to pursue his political career is now intending to head back to the private sector.
Coleman said he’s proud of what he has achieved including setting up a support service for victims of homicide.
“I had a group of people come to me whose families had been victims of homicide and these were families where there were children who had lost their parents or lost other family members to homicide,” he said.
“They said we want to establish a place where kids who have been through incredible trauma can get support and nothing that existed in Australia or anywhere around the world. It was families like Anita Cobby’s family … and now there is this place called Grace’s Place in Doonside … that’s one of the great privileges of this job.”
In opposition, his strength was methodically chipping away at Labor’s proposals including sinking the controversial misinformation laws and as a measured voice on contentious issues like Gaza and the Trump administration.
Another highlight was the social media ban of which he was one of the leading advocates and which was later adopted by Labor.
He was also one of two Moderate voices in the shadow cabinet, a leader of the faction.
Now, as the post mortem places blame with the party’s National Right wing the loss of Moderate voices will be keenly felt.
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Originally published as Liberal MP David Coleman breaks silence after shock election loss in Banks
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