Luxury Victorian coalition love-in to plot a path to power
Victorian Liberal and National Party MPs have embarked on a three-day retreat at a luxury resort, at a time when Michael O’Brien is clinging to his job.
Victorian Liberal and Nationals MPs have headed off for a three-day retreat at one of the state’s most exclusive golf courses, aiming to plot a path to winning back the 18 predominantly outer-suburban seats they need to secure victory against Daniel Andrews at the November 2022 election.
The love-in at the Moonah Links golf resort on the Mornington Peninsula comes as Michael O’Brien clings to his job, with a senior Victorian Liberal figure telling The Australian last week he would be rolled as Opposition Leader before the next state election, with a challenge likely to be mounted months before next year’s poll.
That speculation followed the leaking to the Herald Sun of WhatsApp messages in which Mr O’Brien disparaged the Morrison government’s move to shut down the Andrews government’s Belt & Road deal with China, amid widespread frustration within a partyroom that appears neither united behind their leader nor agreed on an alternative.
The conference opened on Tuesday afternoon with a Liberals-only session featuring an update from state director Sam McQuestin regarding preselection procedures, fundraising and an impending electoral redistribution that could cost the Liberals at least two seats.
Mr O’Brien, former leader Matthew Guy and frontbenchers Ryan Smith and Neil Angus were then expected to lead discussion on “improving community engagement” and a more general Q&A, before Nationals MPs and staff arrived in time for a “pizza and BBQ buffet” dinner.
While a leaked itinerary lists Wednesday morning’s activity as a “stakeholder engagement session” for “all participating MPs” from 6:30am, The Australian understands the plan is to jump aboard a Westernport Fishing Charters boat for a group bonding session at sea.
The core business of the conference gets under way on Wednesday afternoon, with opening comments from Mr O’Brien, details on party “research, data and target seats” from Mr McQuestin and Nationals state director Matt Harris, and an address on the “2022 State Election and Beyond” from Mr O’Brien.
The Australian has been told the leadership team plans to brainstorm five key areas on which to focus messaging in the lead-up to the poll.
On Wednesday evening, all MPs are “expected to attend” a “networking event” with local Liberal Party members, before an address on “Team Building and Teamwork” from guest speaker and Melbourne Storm general manager Frank Ponissi at dinner.
Over breakfast on Thursday, the focus turns local with “Nepean electorate stakeholders” invited to hear from Mornington Peninsula Regional Tourism Board chair Tracey Cooper and local shire chief executive John Baker.
It’s then Nationals leader Peter Walsh’s turn to address the conference on behalf of his MPs, whose numbers are so few following the 2018 election that they no longer hold party status.
The state directors then return to the floor for workshops on “Successful and Unsuccessful Campaign Ads and Messaging” and “Campaigning Input and Discussion”, with “MPs to break into groups and report back to room”, before Mr O’Brien closes the meeting at lunch on Thursday.
Liberal MPs were full of outward positivity on arrival when The Australian visited on Tuesday, as the sun shone over the resort’s two perfectly manicured 18-hole championship golf courses and landscaped gardens.
Southwest Victorian frontbencher Richard Riordan said he hoped the annual conference would be as “productive as it always is”. When asked whether the party would outline a strategy to defeat Labor at the next election, he said: “I imagine that will be part of what we talk about, absolutely … we need to beat Daniel Andrews and those will be some of the things we’ll talk about.”
The partyroom’s newest member, upper house MP Matthew Bach, said he was looking forward to discussing “the broader matters that we need to think about as we seek to win government”.
However, he was less sanguine about Wednesday’s fishing expedition. “I’m not really a fisherman and I don’t know who I am in a boat with,” he said.
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