Liberals should take a leaf out of Nationals’ playbook

No one likes to see the dissolution of a political party.

However, when a party appears to abandon some basic tenets of its platform and is rejected in a landslide by the electorate, a reassessment must be made.

When the National Party fails to lose a seat but its Liberal partner is decimated in the elections, it is reasonable to question whether the respective leaders are pursuing the same agenda (“Merged LNP will make both strong: Barnett”, 7/5).

In fact, the Nationals did not waver in their pursuit of the values and expectations of their constituents at the local level. As a result, they retained seats while their Liberal partners in the urban electorates lost theirs en masse.

Some will explain this development as symptomatic of the cleavage between city and country. It is certainly true that the massive immigration into urban areas of Australia has further extended differences and that must be acknowledged.

But a successful political party will seek to reach that sweet spot in its agenda that speaks to all disparate groups across the nation.

This goal was not achieved by the Liberal hierarchy during this election.

Vicki Sanderson, Cremorne, NSW

Paul Kelly’s good advice to the Liberals on what to do and not do is being ignored right now as factions are debating who to install as leaders (“Liberals must revive ‘broad church’ and reject false demons”, 7/5).

One wonders if today’s Liberals endorse the ethos of being a tolerant “broad church” of opinions. The very semantics of it can’t compete in today’s politics. It falls flat.

As Kelly explains, Liberals have been failing on the beliefs and their expression, let alone the implementation, of their core values for over a decade, not just as evidenced in the 2025 electoral wipe-out.

Narratives and emotions, not just facts and bribes, win elections.

Betty Cockman, Dongara, WA

The 2025 election marked more than a routine change of government – it reflected a shift in public mood. After years of culture war distractions and policy stagnation, the Coalition struggled to present a vision that resonated. When Australians were looking for focus and stability, the opposition offered little beyond division.

The Greens, meanwhile, suffered a quieter but no less revealing collapse.

Their result exposed a party increasingly torn between rhetoric and reality. For years they’ve tried to hold together a coalition of older, eco-conscious moderates and uncompromising idealists. The former were likely alienated by the latter’s absolutism; the latter offered ideology without infrastructure. Neither truly addressed the concerns of voters facing a rental crisis, rising grocery bills and a fraying public sector.

Australians are not looking for moral theatre from either end of the spectrum. They want leadership that listens more than it lectures – action grounded in reality, not ideology.

Simon Tedeschi, Newtown, NSW

Where were the young Liberals in the development of policies for the election? This group of young people, many of them at universities, used to formulate policies and put them forward to the Liberals national office.

Did they stop doing this or were they rejected by a bunch of old fogies? The incoming opposition leader should build close relations with young people to develop policies to attract young voters. With the huge absence of young Liberal voters, and also women, in capital cities in this election, solid work is needed to turn this around.

David Williams, Lockleys, SA

Let’s hope for the future of our country that the leaders in the Coalition take on board the excellent post-election analysis by Paul Kelly and Janet Albrechtsen (“Don’t tremble over ‘culture wars’ – own them”, 7/5).

Intertwined with their focus on culture and the need for a “broad church” Coalition is the importance of values, which underpin the direction of a society.

Colin Bransgrove, McMahons Point, NSW

With the bewildered Liberals uncertain of what they even stand for, perhaps the Nationals could field candidates in all electorates next time so voters will have the choice of a major party that holds genuine conservative values.

Alan Freedman, St Kilda East, Vic