Turnbull ‘hero’ Julia Banks is Morrison pariah

Malcolm Turnbull’s hero of the 2016 election has become the political pariah of Scott Morrison’s government.

Meet the neighbours: Liberal Party defector Julia Banks, centre, joins the crossbench crew yesterday, with fellow independent MPs Kerryn Phelps, left, and Cathy McGowan. Picture: Getty Images

Malcolm Turnbull’s hero of the 2016 election has become the political pariah of Scott Morrison’s government, but the details of ­exactly who bullied her during the fateful leadership coup that ­toppled the former prime minister remain unclear.

Last night, as Julia Banks’s ­decision to move to the crossbench reverberated through the Liberal Party, sending the government further into minority status on the floor of the House of Representatives, former political backers turned on her.

Former prime minister John Howard scolded Ms Banks on the ABC’s 7.30 last night. “I did campaign for her in her marginal spot of Chisholm and she, like me, owes a lot to the Liberal Party,” he said. “I think it is ­always important to remember that they are overwhelmingly there because of the patronage of their own party, and they should never forget it.”

Ms Banks was the one bright spot on election night in 2016 for Mr Turnbull, winning the only seat the government picked up from Labor. Her improbable victory in the Melbourne electorate of Chisholm, held for 18 years by Labor, propelled her into the former prime minister’s inner-circle.

The bitterness of the Aug­ust leadership spill that deposed Mr Turnbull remained clear yesterday as she joined the crossbench, vowing to work closely with ­parliament’s three other female independents, ­Kerryn Phelps, Rebekha Sharkie and Cathy McGowan.

Few in the government knew of Ms Banks’s intentions, although she had been viewed as a “suicide bomber in waiting” by some in the Coalition. Ms Banks had been scarred by an attack campaign led by Labor, calling into question her ­eligibility to sit in the parliament over her citizenship status.

Her speech to parliament last month calling for a “one-off act of grace” to get child refugees off Nauru was seen as a strong warning sign she was ready to cause havoc for the government.

At least one of her new independent colleagues, Ms Sharkie, knew Ms Banks was about to defect to the crossbench, but Scott Morrison was caught by surprise, and she failed to flag her intentions with the Coalition partyroom. She missed Monday’s Victorian election post-mortem meeting with the Prime Minister and her fellow Victorian Josh Frydenberg.

She described Mr Turnbull and his former deputy Julie Bishop as “visionary, inspiring leaders” with “sensible centrist” values, while ­attributing similar qualities to her new crossbench colleagues.

“Like the three female independent representatives … sensible centre liberal values are at the core of what I stand for,” she said.

Ms Banks lashed the ­Liberal Party’s “reactionary Right” for cutting down Mr Turnbull.

“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,” she said.

Earlier, Ms Banks said she was bullied and intimidated in the lead-up to the August 24 leadership ballot against Mr Turnbull, amid reports MPs’ preselections had been threatened if they failed to vote as ordered. She said the events had taken an “enormous emotional toll” on her and her family. However, she refused to name the alleged perpetrators.

Her comments prompted Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger to declare that politics was “a rough business”.

Ms Banks, who holds her seat by 3.4 per cent, indicated a week after the coup that she would retire from politics, but she triggered speculation a month later that she could stand as an independent, after telling constituents she was “far from” farewelling them. Yesterday, she kept her options open, saying she would decide whether to recontest the seat in the new year. “I am so proud to serve as a member of this House of Representatives with honour and respect, because of the good ­people it represents,” she said.

Her new crossbench colleagues said they were looking forward to working as a bloc.

Melbourne’s Greek newspaper Neos Kosmos put her 2016 victory down to her strong grassroots campaign. “The combative and communication-savvy Julia Banks made a connection with the voters of Chisholm that has important lessons for the Liberals,” it editorialised after her win.