Winning Lib MP Melissa McIntosh’s advice for party: Go west to find spirit of Menzies

Melissa McIntosh held her seat of Lindsay and even won a swing in her direction, and she has some pointed advice for fellow party members who think “ideological” fighting will win votes.

Liberals must stop getting distracted by internal ideological fights and instead focus on the needs of local communities in “heartland” electorates that truly represent the spirit of Menzies in places like Western Sydney, according to Lindsay MP Melissa McIntosh.

While her party suffered a number of devastating blows in eastern suburbs and north shore seats Saturday night, Ms McIntosh retained her seat and managed to pull a 1.4 per cent swing against Labor rival Trevor Ross leaving it on a safe 6.5 per cent margin.

“Getting stuck in a discussion about where the party sits from an ideological standpoint, we shouldn’t get caught up in that,” she said.

“We need to get back to communities.”

Lindsay, which sits in Western Sydney, has gone back and forth between Labor and the Liberals since the long stretch when it sat with the Coalition during the Howard government, whose policies were popular with aspirational home-buying families.

Lindsay MP Melissa McIntosh at Emu Plains in Western Sydney. Melissa retained her seat and managed to pull a 1.4 per cent swing against Labor rival Trevor Ross. Picture: Richard Dobson

Ms McIntosh says that spirit is still there and represents the true target audience for the Liberals.

“Lindsay is a microcosm of Australia, you’ve got young families, small business people, all working really hard to get ahead,” she said.

“The heartland of the Liberal party is in places like Western Sydney.”

“I truly believe people in Western Sydney are Liberal people by design going all the way back to Menzies and the ‘Forgotten People’ … these are people who moved out to the suburbs to provide a better life for their families,” she said.

Although she credited her advocacy for local projects like the Dunheved Road upgrade as important to her winning re-election, she also warned that people don’t want more government in their lives.

“The issues people care about are cost of living, infrastructure, national defence and national security, and they also want to see that things are made here in Australia,” she said.

Scott Morrison visited Lindsay business SpanSet who make products for safety equipment including harnesses slings with local MP Melissa McIntosh. Picture: Jason Edwards

“But they do not want more government in their lives … they want pragmatic investment, things that will help aspirational people who want to live and choose to live here.”

Reflecting on the defeats that hit the Liberal party and some of the community-based campaigns that were successful including Dai Le’s taking Fowler back from Labor and blow-in candidate Kristina Keneally, Ms McIntosh said local focus and time were the keys to victory.

“I ran a very local campaign about delivering for my local electorate, from the Dunheved Road upgrade I fought for to ensuring that I delivered my plan for Lindsay which I had in 2019.”

“You don’t start your campaign when the election is called, it requires being with the community 365 days a year,” she said.