Division of Kooyong

You are on Saturday Magazine with Maka and Kenny and Jack.

Our next guest, because today, at the start of the show, I called today's show Independence Day, but that's with a T-S on the end, not C-E, because we had Misha Ketchell, editor of The Conversation, independent media, Monique Ryan, independent MP for Kooyong, A blast from the past, Susan Davies, MP...

Independent MP for Bass.

Independent MP for Bass.

No, they're very focused on their own campaign.

Yeah, right.

They've been running, not that we, you know, in Kooyong, the federal seat at Kooyong, we have Hawthorne, Kew and Malvern.

Yeah.

Dr. Monique Ryan, the independent editor.

MP for Kooyong we have a special guest some of our listeners with a few years on the clock will remember this name Susan Davies a former independent MP for the seat of Bass who along with two other independent MPs gave the Brax government a majority in the lower house in Victoria when they defeated the Kennet government.

And in return managed to get a few very good things through.

Well, the biggest piece of work from my perspective that Susan did was the same-sex relationships bill, which was a year after the Brax government started.

This week, Josh Frydenberg bounced back onto the scene with a shiny new book.

It seems like the former Treasurer who was kicked out of his blue ribbon seat of Kooyong might be harboring dreams of a return to the bright lights of Canberra.

Do you smell a comeback brewing or is that something else?

Well, look, I must say this week, uh, Josh Frydenberg, uh, was everywhere launching his book, but there's no doubt he was also relaunching his career as a senior Liberal.

People close to him say there's [chuckles] no doubt about it.

He's laying the groundwork now.

There's big discussion what Kooyong again or somewhere else.

But do you know the colorful Barnaby Joyce, who we all love to admire? I think he got it right when he said...

Yeah, and it, look, he's ...

He has for a long time since he, he was actually voted out of politics by the, the people of Kooyong.

The teal wave.

Yeah, M- Monique Ryan, um, took that seat from him.

the government had a good time with this.

Yeah.

Um, Jim Chalmers said that Josh Frydenberg is the failed former member for Kooyong.

Yeah.

He's, uh, he's created, uh, a lot of speculation in, uh, in terms of what will he do.

What will he do? Will he come back into politics? Does he want to stand for parliament again? Does he w- he want to contest his old seat of Kooyong, which is held by, uh, Monique Ryan, Dr.

Ryan, uh, 'cause she's a medical doctor.

Um, uh, the question is, will he do it? And, and he's been sort of well teasing us a bit over the last, uh, last few days.

So pre-selections would be sort of occurring.

I mean, only a madman in the Liberal Party would run against him in Kooyong, of which there are a few.

So, you know, you couldn't rule that out.

So I think Josh would need to declare early next year.

And I just think the question really has to be, I guess, is that actually, you know, how does he earn his way back? Because he lost his seat fairly and squarely and democratically at the 2022 election.

Is he going to be like you say, is he going to be take the fight back to Monique Ryan and try to win the seat of Kooyong? Is he going to be parachuted into some other Liberal seat in, I think they only have one or two seats in Melbourne from memory? But how does he get back into Parliament in a way that doesn't appear to be subverting the wills of voters or recycling old trash or that sort of thing, I think is a very interesting question.

Well, the issue is at the moment, Angus Taylor is not cutting through as the leader of the opposition and Pauline Hanson is regarded by most Australian people as the leader of the opposition.

And he's going nowhere, just the same as his predecessor was going nowhere.

the rise of Pauline Hanson.

Now, whether he could win is another matter.

Now, whether he can even get back into Parliament is another matter because he was the member for Kooyong, which was Robert Menzies' seat, which Menzies held for 20-odd years.

Back in those days, the financial hierarchy of Melbourne lived in the seat of Kooyong and Menzies would get 70-80% of the vote, never ever went to preferences.