There is a real risk that the wrong lessons will be learnt by the Liberal Party about the reasons for the federal election loss, and the path back to government.

Two months after the defeat, much of the commentary to date has suggested that because it was largely urban, left-leaning Liberals who lost their seats to the so-called “teal independents”, the party was being punished for being insufficiently progressive. If that becomes the basis of the party’s rebuild strategy, it will also need to become comfortable in the wilderness, Bear Grylls style, for a long time.