Michelle Landry vows to fight for Capricornia in Canberra as she enters opposition

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry has laid on the table her commitment to fight for Capricornia’s fair share and to make sure funding isn’t stripped from the region. See her commitment here.

She has been given a fourth term, and Capricornia MP Michelle Landry has vowed to fight “tooth and nail” for the local coal sector and to make sure funding for major projects isn’t stripped.

For the first time in 15 years, the electorate Capricornia is in opposition and it will also be Ms Landry’s first time in opposition.

Ms Landry defeated Labor’s Russell Robertson for a second time despite the ALP gaining a 6.68 per cent swing for the electorate at the Federal Election.

But with her position now in opposition, Ms Landry has committed to fighting for the region’s fair share and holding the government to account.

“I certainly will be keeping them accountable because I’m a member for a regional area and I need to make sure we get our fair share here,” she said.

“What I’ll be making sure is the projects that are in the budget actually stay in the budget, that Labor doesn’t take it out.

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry with former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: supplied

“We put money aside for things like the Nebo Showgrounds, $2.7m which was in budget, out further Phillips Creek Bridge which was $14.4m, there’s money there … but projects and money for these major roads projects and things I am concerned they’ll rip money out.

“I’m also really concerned Labor and the Greens have done deals for the coal mining sector, I will fight tooth and nail to protect our coal mining sector.

“People in the cities need to realise where their electricity comes from, where their food comes from, it just doesn’t suddenly appear in their trendy little cafes in Melbourne.

“I think there’s a little bit of a divide there where people don’t actually understand that in places like this, the wealth of the nation comes from it.”

Ms Landry said she was a “fighter” and while it would be “difficult” having a different party in government, Labor couldn’t just “cut off” everything to a Coalition member.

“There’s still projects that come up, they still have to keep money flowing, there’s roads they have to put money into and all of that and I will keep on fighting for that,” she said.

“The member before me was in opposition for a long time, we had the Howard Government and she was in there (opposition) for a lot of that time.

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry has spoken after being re-elected for a fourth term as MP.

“It’s very humbling (to be given another go) I never planned on being a politician, it just happened. I’m very honoured the people of Capricornia have put enough faith in me to give me another go at this and I’ve made the commitment that I’ll continue to work hard and I’ll have more time in the electorate now I’m not an assistant minister.”

Ms Landry said she was passionate about women’s issues, particularly around homelessness.

“There’s a new pool out there and it’s women over 50 that have been married, divorced and have got no super or savings,” she said.

“I spoke with some ladies before the election and I’m really keen to get behind that and support women’s issues more.”

Labor gained a significant swing in some Capricornia booths, including Sarina.

Ms Landry said she was going to be spending more time in the electorate to try and win back the support of those people.

“We’ve put a lot of money into these areas but it does tend to get lost in the big scheme of things, whether people don’t see it in the media or on Facebook and think ‘well they’ve done nothing for this area’,” she said.

“We’ll be very focused on what the issues are and spend more time in those areas.”

Where did it go wrong for the LNP?

It was well publicised in the lead up to the election the popularity of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison had plummeted.

But as the campaign progressed the polls for preferred PM did fluctuate and while at times very, very narrow in margin – some even predicted a hung parliament after polls closed.

But the Federal Election 2022 signalled the end of the LNP’s nine year reign and changed the government.

“I think Scott Morrison and the cabinet, they worked really hard, they got Australia through an incredible crisis,” Ms Landry said.

“I think he (Scott Morrison) was blamed for a lot of stuff personally and the stuff of when he was away with his family (in Hawaii during the bushfires), I thought that was disgraceful. He couldn’t do anything without the people in the southern media and in the Labor Party attacking him.

“Scott had his faults, but I think he was a good Prime Minister and I think he did a good job.

“He’s accepted he did make mistakes and no one is perfect … we have to rebuild, get on with it and get fresh policies out there, we’ve got new people joining and (need to) get on with it, it’s a good shake up and opportunity to reset and look at where we went wrong and refresh.”

Ms Landry will head to Canberra this weekend for the first time since the election, where she will clean out her assistant minister office and also meet with other members of the Nationals Party where they will talk policy and potentially, leadership.

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

She said while she couldn’t vote for the leader of the Liberals, as she was part of the Nationals, she supported former Defence Minister Peter Dutton as a potential leader for the party and said she would vote for him if she could.

“I think we need someone that’s tough, has the true values of the party and can get us through what’s going to be a difficult three years,” she said.

“If I was in the Liberal Party, I would vote for Peter Dutton.”

Ms Landry confirmed she would not be going for a tilt at the Nationals leadership because she was committed to her electorate of Capricornia and would be making her decision on who she would support as the leader of the party in their meeting on Monday.

“We will discuss how our future looks and start talking about changes of policies, or if there’s things that have stood out during the election we need to deal with, we’ll be doing that,” she said.

“We’ll go back down again when parliament sits.”

When parliament does eventually go back, Ms Landry said she would be “fighting for everything”.

“I am 100 per cent on the job, I’ll be fighting for everything for this area, I will be making sure money is not ripped out of this region and I will be out there protecting our jobs in the coal and agriculture sectors,” she said.