Liberal candidates trying to win back former blue-ribbon seats lost to community independents have lambasted efforts to broaden the teal brand by focusing on traditional economic issues such as tax reform and industrial relations.

Teal MPs such as Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, who represent electorates on Sydney’s affluent north shore, and Zoe Daniel from Melbourne used the first parliamentary sitting week of the year to announce small business tax policies and talk more broadly about the urgent need for tax reform.