Scott Morrison says Liberals must connect with mainstream to regain teal seats to return to power

Former prime minister Scott Morrison says the Liberal Party must remain a centrist and pragmatic political movement that reflects the concerns and aspirations of everyday Australians.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Former prime minister Scott Morrison says the Liberal Party‘s path back to power is to be a mainstream, community-based movement that strives to make a practical difference in the lives of Australians and it must win back heartland seats lost to teal independents to regain government.

“You don’t form government again unless you have representation in those areas in either a coalition or some other form,” he said in an interview for a new edition of a biography of Robert Menzies. ”So, no, of course you don’t abandon them.”

At the May 2022 election, the Liberal Party lost the heartland seats of Curtin, Goldstein, Kooyong, Mackellar, North Sydney and Wentworth to teals; Bennelong, Boothby, Hasluck, Higgins, Pearce and Tangney to Labor; and Ryan to the Greens.

In a rare interview, Mr Morrison was highly critical of how the Liberal Party organisation treated its members and said the structures were “kryptonite” to existing and prospective members, and the party must find other ways to connect with the community.

“The party’s structures, its constitution, all of this, is kryptonite to the type of people that we are trying to reach and be part of our political movement,” he said. “This has been the case for a long time. Any attempts to try and reform it or change have not been successful.

“So, the system no longer is fit for purpose in a modern society like Australia ... party members who have been faithful and supportive are despairing about this.

“I (don’t) think that any political movement these days is reflective of broader society. I don’t think the Labor Party could make that claim either. Certainly, with most members of federal parliament, is that you have an informal supporters’ membership now. And so, the people who often stand on booths for us and do things, many of them are not even members of the party but they have an association.”

Mr Morrison described Menzies as a centrist and pragmatist, and said the party must remain true to his vision for the party when established in 1944. He said ideological extremism was a turn-off for voters and would leave the Liberal Party in opposition.

Then prime minister Scott Morrison delivering the 2019 Sir Robert Menzies Lecture in Melbourne. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett

“Menzies’ instruction was to connect with the mainstream of Australia,” he said. ”Menzies always understood that what he began was to form a political movement that brought together what he called the unorganised from many different perspectives and walks of life … They were not employer associations. They were not union organisations. They were the mainstream of Australian society.

“He was able to create a political movement that they could support and therefore create a government that was far more mainstream and not captive to any sectional interests at all, and always could be above that. And I still think that this is important today as it was then.”

Mr Morrison said the Liberal Party must continue to represent “the quiet Australians” if it was to return to government.

His interview is one of a series with every living former Liberal prime minister included in a new preface to the second edition of the Menzies biography. The biography, first published in 2019, includes a series of interviews Menzies gave in retirement that had not been revealed before, and access to archival documents and family letters not previously disclosed.

Troy Bramston’s Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics is republished by Scribe on August 15