Decimated Liberals’ infighting over whether to move to the right or the centre lies at heart of their future

The Coalition is facing an existential crisis, with some party members pushing to make massive changes that will affect their ability to succeed in the next election.

Shellshocked Liberals picking up the pieces of their decimated party room are bracing for an “existential” battle over whether the party retains its conservative platform or jettisons policies in a bid to appeal to the political “centre”.

In the wake of the Coalition’s horror election result that may leave the Liberals with as few as half a dozen seats in metropolitan Australia, surviving MPs and Senators are gearing up for a fight over how the party must change to rebuild support.

The party’s moderate flank has been almost completely wiped out, while key conservative powerbrokers – including Peter Dutton – also lost their seats, paving the way for a major contest about whether the party dumps nuclear, pursues meaningful policies to woo Australians in cities or continues moving to the right to appeal to its conservative base.

One Liberal said it was critical the party return to the “centre”.

Peter Dutton and wife Kirrilly and kids at the official function where he conceded defeat. Picture: Adam Head / NewsWire

“We are absolutely at a scorched earth moment if we don’t acknowledge we can only lead from the centre, then we are finished,” they said.

“People in this country do not vote Labor to punish Liberals for being too centrist.”

Another MP said they “can’t imagine” the party would “stick with nuclear” in part due to the fact the Coalition looked to be six years away from returning to government, by which time the energy transition would be significantly more advanced.

Many MPs acknowledged the outsizes role Mr Trump played during the campaign, saying the US President’s trade war and severe cuts had “reshaped the political landscape” and the Coalition had not been “nimble” enough to react to that.

South Australian Senator Alex Antic pushed for his party to go further down the Trump-lite populous route. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

While those among the Liberals’ conservative ranks, like South Australian Senator Alex Antic, pushed for his party to go further down the Trump-lite populous route.

“What we have to do is make sure that we make the Liberal Party great again – I said it, there we go – so we can make Australia great again,” he told Sky News Australia.

Speaking in private, the Liberals offered searing assessments of Mr Dutton’s campaign and the party’s failure to build a credible alternative platform to win back government, laying blame across the leadership team and Liberal headquarters.

MPs have criticised the party’s inability to appeal to young people and women, described the lack of an economic agenda as a “catastrophic failure” and labelled the working from home policy a “disaster”.

They said a “flat-footed” response to Labor’s attacks, multiple “tactical errors” and Mr Dutton’s struggles to distance himself from the anti-Trump wave sweeping the globe delivered the Coalition a result so bad the party had “no pathway back to government before 2031”.

Another Liberal MP said the party had stagnated since the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison era, with Mr Dutton prioritising “discipline and unity” over policy innovation and debate.

“We’re still relying on the manifestations of our values that have been there for years, values themselves stay the same, but they need to be applied as the world around us changes,” they said.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott during the Coalition event held in Brisbane after Australians voted in the Federal election. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Former prime minister Tony Abbott said as Liberals reflected on the “shattering loss” there were two things that mattered.

“First, we mustn’t lose heart. We have come back from demoralising defeat before,” he said.

“Second, we mustn’t sell our soul. We won’t win elections or govern effectively as an echo of Labor.”

Senator Simon Birmingham gives his valedictory speech in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

In a scathing assessment, former senior Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham – a moderate leader before his resignation from politics last year – said the brand of conservatism projected by the party was “clearly perceived as too harsh and out of touch”.

Mr Birmingham said there must be a “reshaping of the party” to connect it with the “modern Australian community” based not on who is already voting Liberal, but those who were not: women and metropolitan residents.

Originally published as Decimated Liberals’ infighting over whether to move to the right or the centre lies at heart of their future