Former prime minister critical of Chisholm MP Julia Banks for resigning from Liberal Party

Former prime minister John Howard said new crossbench MP Julia Banks should “never forget” the party that helped her into parliament in a veiled criticism over her shock resignation from the Liberal Party.

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Former prime minister John Howard said new crossbench MP Julia Banks should “never forget” the party that helped her into parliament in a veiled criticism over her shock resignation from the Liberal Party.

“I obviously don’t know much about Julia Banks, except that I did campaign for her in her marginal seat of Chisholm,” he said on the ABC’s 730 on Tuesday.

Former prime minister John Howard spoke to ABC’s 730 on Tuesday night.

“She, like me, owes a lot to the Liberal Party. I think it’s always important for people who are elected to parliament, whether it’s on the Labor side or our side, to remember that they are overwhelmingly there because of their patronage from their own party.

“They should never forget that.”

John Howard with Julia Banks when she was campaigning for the federal Victorian seat of Chisholm. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Mr Howard also reassured Liberal voters that all was not lost for the federal election next year on the back of the party’s landslide defeat in Victoria at the weekend.

“The Liberal Party is obviously going through a difficult time at the moment but I’m still convinced that we can win the next federal election,” he said.

“There is a long history in Australian politics of a disconnect between a heavy defeat at a state level and victory at a federal level.

“I’d say to Liberal supporters, understandably depressed about what happened in Victoria, I think it was overwhelmingly for state reasons.”