Julia Banks refuses to name Liberal bullies before election
ABC News
5 Feb 2019
Former Liberal turned independent MP Julia Banks is refusing to name who was responsible for the bullying and intimidation within her old party, arguing it will just reignite a slanging match in Federal Parliament.
Key points:
An audience member on Q&A said the public has a right to know which MPs are bullies
Julia Banks said naming bullies would just give the Liberal Party an opportunity to talk about themselves
Ms Banks repeated her claim there is an entrenched culture of anti-women within the Liberal Party
Ms Banks spectacularly defected from the Coalition in November last year, months after complaining of tactics used by members of the Liberals during the coup which toppled Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the party.
Allegations have swirled through the corridors of power that some Liberals were wrangling support away from Mr Turnbull by threatening preselections and future promotions.
Ms Banks was questioned on who the alleged bullies were on the ABC's Q&A program, by a member of the public who argued the electorate had a right to know.
"When I made my first announcement, I made it very, very clear … that it was an entrenched culture of anti-women within the Liberal Party which I had experienced from almost, from, since my preselection in 2015," Ms Banks responded.
"Yes, the leadership coup week was intense, but it is an entrenched culture there.
"And my position is that I'm not going to name the bullies because that will just give the Liberal Party opportunity to start talking about themselves and 'he said, she said' and name calling and all the rest of it."
Ms Banks has been criticised for her decision to defect from the Liberals, with former colleagues and party luminaries suggesting she owed a debt to the party for being elected as its member for the Melbourne seat of Chisholm.
She has since caused further shockwaves by announcing she would contest the seat of Flinders, currently held by Health Minister Greg Hunt, as an independent.
Despite the attacks levelled against her, Ms Banks would not name those accused of poor behaviour.
"I'm not going to get into the sort of cross list of who said what to who," she said.
"I think we should wait until the release — I'm sure there's a lot of books that are going to be published after the election. Let's wait till that."
Ms Banks denied her decision not to publicly shame her former colleagues would make people less likely to believe her concerns.
"During that week I wasn't the only woman who spoke out," she said.
"We had Linda Reynolds speak in the Senate, that she witnessed and observed behaviour that she didn't recognise, and then she went quiet when she was promoted to being a Minister.
"We had Kelly O'Dwyer speaking on 7.30, we had Lucy Gichuhi saying it … we even had the Prime Minister himself talk about bullying in Gilmore.
Forum
Pages: 1 
