Peta Credlin: Liberals must encourage like-minded people to join the party

As well as a better policy offering, the Liberals need to revitalise their party by encouraging more of the people who normally vote Liberal to join the party and make a difference, writes Peta Credlin.

It’s a long way back for the depleted Liberals, now outnumbered more than two-to-one in the federal parliament, even though Labor got scarcely a third of first preference votes (meaning seven out of 10 Australians did not vote for the Albanese government).

It starts with the new shadow ministers getting on top of policy. That means reading everything they can in their policy area, talking to everyone they can who’s involved in it, and then coming up with a better way forward based on Liberal values.

As well as a better policy offering, the Liberals also need to revitalise their party.

This doesn’t just mean better campaign machinery and personnel, who can more quickly counter Labor’s lies and get the Coalition’s message more effectively to switched-off voters – although that’s important too.

Somehow the Liberals need to encourage more of the people who normally vote Liberal to join the party and make a difference.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

former federal Liberal president Richard Alston. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian

But as things stand, “branches are closed shops, state council is an insiders’ club, and the party has been run by factional warlords for far too long” as former PM Tony Abbott said this week.

This is where the federal intervention into the NSW Liberal Party should help. As the former federal Liberal president, Richard Alston – who’s currently helping to run the NSW party – told me recently on Sky, the state party has expelled or refused membership to some 600 people, had some 5000 members fail to renew, and not opened a new branch in a decade.

A new draft constitution is being prepared that will end branches’ ability to refuse membership applications, stop state conferences from blocking the formation of new branches, and open up state council to all members.

But, unless extended, the intervention will expire at the end of June with this work incomplete.

THUMBS UP

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie – for pointing out the “massive hypocrisy at the heart of the Net Zero economy” given Australia exports coal and gas to China and India but wants to ban them here, denying us cheap and affordable power.

THUMBS DOWN

Drought help – where is the support for farmers as the drought worsens and mental health harm explodes?

Watch Peta on Credlin on Sky News, weeknights at 6pm

Originally published as Peta Credlin: Liberals must encourage like-minded people to join the party