Federal Election 2022: Chopping spree ahead for Liberals as factional civil war kicks off

The Liberals are preparing for a major “bloodletting” as factions fight for control over the future direction of the party. It comes as Scott Morrison was snapped cracking a whip at a final function at Kirribilli House.

The Liberals are preparing for what multiple sources called “bloodletting” as conservatives and moderates fight to control the future direction of the party and defeated Warringah candidate Katherine Deves declares she is planning another tilt at politics.

With Scott Morrison confirming he will resign as leader of the Liberals following his federal election defeat, the long-simmering feud broke into the open with outgoing finance minister Simon Birmingham blaming the “captain’s pick” of Katherine Deves for the party’s losses.

“I think it sends a message about what Australians believe when it comes to issues of respect, of inclusion, of diversity,” Mr Birmingham said.

“We are seeing a strong message, and I fear that the impact in Warringah may have had something of a contagion effect on adjacent seats.”

Mr Birmingham’s comments came as Mr Morrison hosted a final function at Kirribilli House on Sunday afternoon so his family could give their thanks to their staffers and their families over drinks.

Scott Morrison was seen cracking a whip at Kirribilli House during a function on Sunday night. Picture: 9 News

Mr Morrison was seen giving a whip cracking demonstration to guests on the lawn, while Jenny Morrison served others with a tray of cocktails.

At one point the couple embraced and kissed on the lawn while admiring the view over Sydney Harbour.

Scott and Jenny Morrison at Kirribilli House on Sunday. Picture: 9 News

Mr Morrison’s backers and other conservatives hit back at Mr Birmingham, with many pointing out that while the Coalition suffered a 4.7 per cent swing against it in Warringah with Ms Deves on the ticket, in nearby Mackellar and North Sydney moderate Liberals such as Jason Falinski and Trent Zimmerman were wiped out with double-digit swings.

“We were fighting the Warringah conference, we were fighting (NSW Liberal) headquarters, and we had to go out and fight the teals,” Ms Deves said on Sunday, declaring that she would stay in politics.

Ms Deves added she thought much of the party’s problems stemmed from party officials trying to win approval from the socially-progressive left.

“They are afraid of the lefty luvvie press, they are afraid of the Twitterati,” she said.

Jenny Morrison with a tray of margaritas at the function. Picture: 9 News

Simon Birmingham.

Katherine Deves. Picture: Monique Harmer

South Australian senator Alex Antic also took issue with Mr Birmingham’s assessment.

“I have to say I heard the comments of Simon Birmingham that somehow the views of Katherine Deves were a form of contagion that had spread thought the electorate and I have never heard such nonsense in my life,” he said.

“This is a centre-right conservative party and it is only three years ago Australians rubber-stamped that.”

Katherine Deves with former prime minister Tony Abbott. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Other senior Liberals hit out at the way moderates such as NSW Treasurer Matt Kean tried to undo Ms Deves campaign and drag the party to the left, ultimately hurting the Coalition.

“They wanted to rub her out, and she’s still standing,” one individual connected to her campaign said.

“The more Matt Kean spoke, thinking he was doing a favour for his moderate mates, talking about climate change and Katherine Deves during the federal election, the more he hurt those guys,” another source said, pointing to the teal bloodbath.

Transport Minister David Elliott also on Monday lashed out at Treasurer Matt Kean’s “bizarre” take of the election loss, in which he blamed it on the federal Liberal party shifting too far to the right.

“We had swings to us in some western Sydney seats yet the only Liberals to lose their seats were moderates,” Mr Elliott said.

“Is (Mr Kean) suggesting people in our North Shore seats were so stupid they didn’t know they were ditching progressive Liberals?”

Mr Elliott said the Liberal party needs to cover “views of progressives and conservatives,” but appeared to blame Mr Kean’s attacks on Katherine Deves for the voter backlash.

“It all goes to pastry when the two philosophies stop respecting each other and actively campaign against each other when they should be focusing on Labor,” Mr Elliott said.

YouTube/Horizon ChurchYouTube/Horizon Church

One Liberal source said that what was coming next was a battle to bring the Liberals back to the values of middle Australia.

“If the Liberals try to chase the teal vote, then the party is over,” the source said.

“It’s like what happened to Labor, which was set up to look after the working class, but which found itself in the wilderness as the progressive left started joining and dragged them into internal fights about elite issues versus looking after ordinary people.”

If the Liberals chase the teal vote, this individual said, “then the Liberals will have no base except elitism, which is falls right into the stereotype of what the Liberals are all about.”

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan concurred.

“We forgot the quiet Australians,” he said.

Warning against trying to me-too social progressives, he said: “The electorate hasn’t changed all that much in three years but we did in the last three years.

“We adopted a Liberal moderate platform on energy, on climate, on culture and that platform has failed.”

Earlier on Monday, Mr Kean unleashed on the federal Liberal party, calling Saturday’s election loss an “unmitigated disaster”.

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Kean said his federal party “abandoned the centre ground and paid the price”.

He said Liberal voters elected teal independents because the federal party had shifted too far to the right.

“Voters sent a clear message that we don’t need to look to the right, they want the Liberal Party to represent the diversity of the community,” he told the ABC.

Matt Kean during Question Time. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

He continued his criticism of Ms Deves, saying the Liberal party could have been “celebrating a win” in the seat if it had preselected someone else.

“Clearly what we’ve seen is that the people of Warringah have rejected hate speech in politics and I think that communities right across the country would have done the same,” he said.

Moderate Liberals Dave Sharma, Trent Zimmerman and Jason Falinksi were all ousted by teal independents fighting for stronger action on climate change.

While NSW Liberals believe the party will be under threat from teal movement at next year’s state poll, the government insiders believe the state division will be less at risk than the Morrison government from progressive independents.

The view inside the government is that Mr Kean, together with former Nationals Leader John Barilaro, had calmed tensions over climate change and energy policy by striking a deal to turbocharge renewable energy projects in NSW.

NSW Liberals also believe the state government faces less of a backlash on the treatment of women than that copped by Scott Morrison.

Meanwhile, other figures from the moderate and centre right factions of the federal Liberal party are privately warning the conservative push to shift to the right and abandon inner-city seats lost to the “teal” independents was overly simplistic.

One MP told The Daily Telegraph it was “false” to characterise Saturday’s result as reason to give up on the four or five wealthy and highly-educated inner city seats, because the Liberals’ losses “ran much deeper”.

“It’s not as simple as saying move on from teal seats — you can’t discount all the city electorates lost to the Liberals and even the Greens,” the Liberal MP said.

On where the party went next and under what leadership, one frustrated Liberal said they wished embattled frontbencher Alan Tudge would do the “decent thing” and step aside to allow for outgoing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to return to parliament.

Teal independent Monique Ryan had all but claimed victory over Mr Frydenberg in the seat of Kooyong on Saturday night.

Originally published as Federal Election 2022: Chopping spree ahead for Liberals as factional civil war kicks off