Nationals MP says Victorian Liberal Party cannot win state election

While some senior Liberals have welcomed the idea of Peter Dutton becoming the party’s new leader, others fear its impact on Victorian voters

Senior Victorian Liberals warn likely leader Peter Dutton will have to make major changes in style and substance to win back voters who abandoned the party in an election wipe-out.

The conservative Queenslander is unlikely to be challenged for the top job, as Liberal MPs shift their attention to finding a woman to serve as his deputy with Sussan Ley, Karen Andrews, Anne Ruston and Jane Hume all in the mix.

Mr Dutton was backed to take on the top job on Monday by Victorian Liberals Alan Tudge and James Paterson.

“He’s a person of immense character, experience, he has very deep values in the Liberal Party and I think we need to go back to those values,” Mr Tudge said.

Other Victorian Liberals feared Mr Dutton would be just as unpopular as Scott Morrison, especially in the party’s heartland seats of Kooyong, Goldstein and Higgins that were ripped away on Saturday.

“If he’s the leader, we’ll be in the doldrums in Victoria for a very long time,” one said.

Another added: “It’s going to be tough … He has to show a different side of himself.”

But several MPs said they believed Mr Dutton was pragmatic enough to realise the party could not win by becoming more conservative.

As the fallout continued within the Coalition, a Liberal insider said the government could have lost up to 30 seats prior to the March budget, and had recovered during the campaign despite Mr Morrison shifting too late to more positive messaging.

Peter Dutton is likely to become the Liberals new leader. Picture: Zak Simmonds

It comes after Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has laughed off suggestions that outgoing Kooyong federal MP Josh Frydenberg could run for state politics.

The ousted treasurer on Monday afternoon conceded defeat to independent Monique Ryan after holding the seat for 12 years.

“I don’t think Josh is really interested in this at this point in time,” he said.

“In fairness to the bloke, he probably needs a couple of days off. We’ll give him a rest before we start making those (comments).”

It comes as Nationals MP Darren Chester blasted the Victorian Liberal Party as an “election-losing machine”, with the former member of Scott Morrison’s cabinet warning they cannot win the state election without a major change in direction.

But Mr Guy said he was not concerned about a potential influx of teal independents running in the November state election.

Speaking for the first time since the federal Coalition’s ousting from government, Mr Guy said his primary focus was to promote his plan on how the state can recover and rebuild.

“I’m not concerned or worried about other groups, other people and other individuals. That’s up to them,” he said on Monday.

Matthew Guy has acknowledged a ‘desire for change’ across the state.

“I will control what I can, which is my own party’s campaigning and our ability to get our messages out. I’ve got to do my job and not worry about other people.”

Mr Guy acknowledged there had been a noticeable “desire for change” across Victoria over recent months and said the Liberal party needed to take note.

“When we’ve obtained one in three primary votes – and normally historically that would be above 40 per cent – that means that there is work to do. I accept that,” he said.

“Clearly the Liberal party has to listen to the concerns and to the issues raised.

“Elections give you a message. It’s now up to us all to listen to them.”

But Mr Guy said he hadn’t lost hope that Victorians who didn’t vote blue on Saturday would remain turned off by the party in the November state election.

“It is now my challenge to make sure that those people who felt they weren’t going to vote for us at a federal level, have got an interest to vote for us at a state level,” he said.

“I don’t take my seat for granted and nor should any member of parliament.”

Mr Guy said he is seeking to have a “constructive relationship” with new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“We don’t seek to fight and needlessly attack and throw names like the state government do, we seek to have constructive relationships,” he said.

Matthew Guy laughed off suggestions that Josh Frydenberg could run in state politics. Picture: David Caird

“I don’t intend to fight with people. My opponent, Daniel Andrews, wants to fight with people. He’s always fighting, blaming, hectoring, and lecturing. I don’t want to do that.

“I’m sure there’ll be times at which we’ll spar with each other but from our point of view, we send our best wishes and sincere congratulations to the new Prime Minister and his team.”

If elected, Mr Guy said he hoped that his federal counterparts would support the controversial East West Link project, which was torn up by the Andrews government.

“Hopefully it means that a project, approved by Infrastructure Australia, is something they would support,” he said.

While having spoken to some of the fallen Victorian federal Liberals – including Tim Wilson and Katie Allen – Mr Guy said a stint on Spring St wasn’t “any of the topics I have raised”.

It comes as Mr Guy prepares for a partyroom meeting on Tuesday morning to determine the fate of outspoken MP Bernie Finn.

“That’s an issue that’s not about beliefs, it’s about behaviour,” Mr Guy said.

“I don’t pre-empt the party room.

“People want us to be a sensible alternative government … what that means is reflecting their concerns, their hopes and aspirations, and I’m committed to doing that.

“I’m not going to have people running off to talk about other issues.”

Chester: Victorian Libs cannot win state election

A former member of Scott Morrison’s cabinet has blasted the Victorian Liberal Party as an “election-losing machine” and warned they cannot win the state election without a major change in direction.

But Nationals MP Darren Chester, who won his seat of Gippsland with a 4.5 per cent swing, says his party must take some of the blame for the wipe-out of its federal Coalition colleagues in Melbourne and Sydney.

And he suggested Barnaby Joyce was “delusional” if he believed Saturday’s result was good for his party, after the former deputy prime minister said he was proud the Nationals held their seats and added another senator.

It came as Alan Tudge — who now holds the safest Liberal seat in Melbourne — declared Queenslander Peter Dutton “will be leader” of the party and said a “strong woman” was needed as his deputy, nominating Sussan Ley, Jane Hume and Michaelia Cash as options.

Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson agreed Mr Dutton was “the right choice to lead us through these times”.

Nationals MP Darren Chester says his party must take some of the blame for the wipe-out of its federal Coalition colleagues in Melbourne and Sydney. Picture: Gary Ramage

In a scathing social media post on Monday, Mr Chester said “lurching further to the right is a recipe for political irrelevance”, as he urged his Coalition colleagues to heed the message from voters who “didn’t believe they were taken seriously on issues that mattered to them”.

“In the Nationals, the temptation will be there to point to the scoreboard and claim a great result because we held all of our existing seats and managed to transition to several new MPs, which is never easy,” he said.

“Sadly, that’s delusional and a bit like a surgeon declaring an operation was a complete success, but the patient died.”

“We need to take some responsibility for the Liberal losses in the city with the more extreme views of some colleagues undoubtedly hurting the chances of our city cousins. It was simple and devastatingly effective to say a vote for those moderate Liberals, was a vote for the ‘dinosaurs’ in the Nationals who didn’t believe in climate change.”

Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, who was knocked off by Mr Joyce last year, said the leadership change “shouldn’t have happened” and suggested it hurt his inner-city Liberal colleagues.

Alan Tudge says Queenslander Peter Dutton ‘will be leader’ of the Liberal Party. Picture: Gary Ramage

He also whacked the “unnecessary” mixed messages on climate change from Nationals members including Matt Canavan, who boasted during the campaign that net zero was “dead”.

Mr Chester agreed, saying: “When the wealth-belt is prepared to toss out a moderate, experienced and capable Treasurer, for an unproven activist, you need to listen to the message, regardless of how unpalatable it is.”

Senator Paterson said the “worst thing for the Liberal Party would be to engage and the National Party to engage in another round of climate wars”. He said the economy would be the “main game” now politically.

“What Scott Morrison achieved in settling climate policy was a very significant achievement. It involved sacrifice and compromise on both sides and I think those who are trying to bid it up or bid it down, are risking distracting us from the main game,” Senator Paterson said.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, a moderate Liberal powerbroker, said the election result was an “unmitigated disaster” and that the federal Coalition paid the price for abandoning the “centre-ground” in politics.

“The community has said loud and clear that extremism in politics, not having the solutions to the big challenges our nation is facing like climate change are not acceptable,” he said.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean says the election result was an ‘unmitigated disaster’. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Mr Chester said the Coalition had been in opposition for 19 of 23 years at a state level in Victoria.

“As the major partner, the Liberal Party in Victoria is an election-losing machine and anyone who thinks the result in November will be any different if they don’t change direction now, is simply kidding themselves,” Mr Chester said.

Senator Paterson said the federal result in Victoria was “very discouraging”, but that people already advocating to push the Liberal Party to the political left or right were “self-serving”.

“We didn’t articulate our liberal values strongly enough and clearly enough over the last few years,” he said on Monday.

“There are some Liberals out there who didn’t recognise their traditional Liberal values in our brand.”

Mr Tudge said Mr Dutton would be an “incredibly effective” new leader because he was “a person of immense character, experience, he has very deep values in the Liberal Party”.

“I think we need to go back to those values,” Mr Tudge said.

The former education minister said he was keen to be “part of the Dutton team”.

Asked on Sky News if he would give up his seat of Aston for Josh Frydenberg, Mr Tudge said: “I intend to stay in this seat and do my best for my local people, do my best for the country and to support the rebuild of the Liberal Party and the Coalition”.

Originally published as Nationals MP says Victorian Liberal Party cannot win state election