The latest episode in our life-after-politics series takes CBD to unfamiliar territory; the gym. But that’s where you’ll find – every day, apparently – former Liberal member for the federal Melbourne seat of Chisolm, Gladys Liu. She was once famously lauded by her former leader Scott Morrison on election night in 2019 (“how good is Gladys Liu?”).
Loading The Hong Kong-born MP soon went right out of fashion in Liberal circles as acting tough towards China became official policy, and in the 2022 contest, her primary vote collapsed nearly 8 per cent, handing the seat to Labor’s Carina Garland . But CBD has always admired the Gladys stamina (it’s now forgotten how hard she worked over many years to overcome racial and gender barriers to win that seat) so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at Liu’s next career step – she landed her certification as a fitness trainer a few weeks ago. Gladys Liu has had a career change.
Credit: John Shakespeare This development has not come out of the clear blue sky. Liu completed her first Melbourne Marathon in October, has been appearing at the occasional Parkrun, and told the SBS Chinese language service that she was at the gym every day, while reminding viewers of the dangers of muscle atrophy for those of us who fail to stay in shape as we age. CBD was unable to get the famously interview-averse Liu on the record on Tuesday, so we’ll just conclude by saying she’s an example to us all.
Not that we have any intention of fol.
