Margo Kingston

Margo Kingston

Co-publisher and editor-in-chief at No Fibs
Margo Kingston is a retired Australian journalist and climate change activist. She is best known for her stint as Phillip Adams’ ‘Canberra Babylon’ contributor and her work at The Sydney Morning Herald and #Webdiary. Since 2012, Kingston has been a citizen journalist, reporting and commenting on Australian politics via Twitter and No Fibs.
Margo Kingston
Independent candidate for Flinders Julia Banks. Photo: supplied

Margo Kingston (@margokingston1) spoke with Julia Banks (@juliabanksmp) in the final days of her campaign as an Independent candidate for the safe Liberal seat of Flinders.

Julia on whether there was an ulterior motive behind the decision to run against Greg Hunt:-

I made the decision way back in August that I wasn’t going to re-contest Chisholm, and one light at the end of the tunnel was that we were going to be spending time in our home that we’ve had for over 20 years since our kids were little — and what a lot of people forget is that I was very new to politics, I served under Malcolm Turnbull and joined in 2016 — so when I was in the private sector when my kids were little, we would often commute from here and my parents lived in Mornington and so they helped with childcare. So this is our natural home and this was the place I was looking forward to spending our time in. And what I was mourning when I decided I wasn’t going to re-contest, was that wonderful experience of being a local member, I seriously enjoyed it.

For me, the most rewarding and enriching experiences, and not the ones are reported in the paper, but the ones that come from being a local member, in terms of being able to help the community and to be dedicated to community service, I really enjoy that.

It was over the summer, everywhere I went people were telling me to run for Flinders. Now I know it would have been easier for me to run in Chisholm because I’d built my brand there, I know lots of people and community leaders there — a lot of people wanted me to run there. But equally, people in Chisholm, they understood it, and because I’d made the decision so much earlier, and they were very, very supportive — it’s like leaving your old workplace, where you still have enduring friendships. The last function I went to was an RSL event and they said Flinders’ gain was Chisholms’ loss. And that was the main driver — that the local community wanted me to run, and it wasn’t an easy decision though, given what I’d been through.

What Greg Hunt did to Malcolm Turnbull is still resonating very loudly here. I know he is trying to re-write history and I think I read somewhere that he said ‘oh look that’s six months ago, I think people have forgotten about that’, but there is no way, I can’t tell you how many people come up to me at the polling booth who say ‘you know I’ve voted Liberal my whole life, and I will never vote for that man again in my life.

My late Dad used to say tell the truth, it’s easy to argue.

I’ve always been clear that my values haven’t changed, it was the Liberal Party’s values that changed.

On Adani:-

Julia was overwhelmed by the response from her speech from many Liberal supporters who have thought the same. You can listen to the full podcast using the links below.

Want more from Julia? Check out her latest video here.

Support Julia Banks’ re-election campaign by sharing this post and clicking on the links below:-

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