Michelle Landry

Michelle Leanne Landry (born 15 October 1962) is an Australian politician. She is a Liberal National Party of Queensland member of the Australian House of Representatives since September 2013, representing the Division of Capricornia, Queensland.^[1]

Landry was born in Rockhampton, Queensland. She ran a local bookkeeping business before entering politics in 2010, when she contested the seat of Capricornia for the first time. Her opponent, long-term Labor MP Kirsten Livermore defeated her in a 54-46 two party preferred vote, but this translated into an 8% swing to the LNP. Following the retirement of Livermore in 2013, Landry won the seat.

Bullying Allegations

In November 2014, Michelle Landry claimed she had been the victim of bullying and intimidation by representatives from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. Landry also said that her daughter and son-in-law were subject to harassment while living in Blackwater, a coal mining community west of Rockhampton, during the 2013 Federal Election campaign. Landry alleged that CFMEU representatives had approached her daughter at the Blackwater bank where her daughter was employed. Landry said that her daughter and son-in-law decided to quit their jobs and leave Blackwater as a consequence.

Landry said she had not made an official complaint about the alleged harassment with police or the union, fearing that any such complaint would exacerbate the problem. The allegations prompted the CFMEU's district president, Stephen Smyth to demand Landry apologise to union members and Blackwater residents, and described the allegations as baseless. Smyth said the union was offended by Landry's comments as it fights against bullying on a daily basis. He said that is she had any evidence, she should have taken it to the police. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

'Wishy Washy' comments

In April 2016, Michelle Landry drew national attention when she attempted to communicate her belief that the Federal Government's messages weren't being communicated effectively enough, and said that the public was perceiving the government's communication as being "a little wishy washy". Many misunderstood her comments, and assumed she meant the government's performance was "wishy washy". Landry's "wishy washy" comments prompted both Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull and National Party leader, Barnaby Joyce to defend the government's performance. Turbull said he wanted to advise Landry to be more upbeat about what the government had achieved, while Joyce said that the government was not "wishy washy" on things like border protection and defence spending. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]}

Campaign Car Accident

In June 2016, while campaigning during the 2016 Federal Election, Michelle Landry's daughter Jessica and son-in-law Tim were involved in a car accident when another car collided with their vehicle in the Rockhampton suburb of Wandal. They were transported to Rockhampton Hospital where they were treated for their injuries. ^[11]

Landry originally informed her social media followers that her son-in-law suffered a broken arm in the accident, and that her daughter was being x-rayed for suspected cracked ribs. ^[12] Landry later posted on social media that her son-in-law was treated for whiplash, a badly bruised arm and a broken hand, and that her daughter was treated for bad bruising. ^[13]

References