Multiple Liberal MPs set to fight it out for party’s leadership

Four contenders are in the mix after Matt Guy announced he would resign as the Liberals’ leader following a second crushing election loss.

Four contenders are in the mix after Matt Guy announced he would resign as the Liberals’ leader following a second crushing election loss.

Warrandyte MP and former Baillieu-Napthine government minister Ryan Smith will put his hand up for the role, pledging to find new constituents built on massive swings in the outer suburbs.

Berwick’s Brad Battin and returning Hawthorn MP John Pesutto are also weighing up tilts, with upper house MP Matt Bach an outside chance if he can switch seats.

Recriminations were flying across the party on Sunday over a disappointing result that saw the Liberals fail to capitalise on anti-government sentiment and go backwards in traditional areas.

In a statement on Sunday morning, Mr Guy said he would call on the party to elect a new leadership team and would not contest.

“As soon as it is clearer which Liberal Party candidates will form the next parliamentary party room, I will call them together to elect their new leadership team,” he said.

Matthew Guy resigned as Liberal party leader on Sunday after his party lost the election. Picture: David Caird

Despite failing to make up ground from 2018, Mr Guy said the results showed a positive future.

“The respectable statewide two party preferred swing to the Coalition of 3-4 per cent was most profound in the ­exceptional swings to the Liberal Party in Melbourne’s north and west,” he said.

“This represents a huge ­future electoral opportunity for the Liberal Party.”

Those ambitious to become the new opposition leader were already canvassing interest on Sunday.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, Mr Smith confirmed he would nominate and said he wanted to present a new vision for the party that appealed to suburban and working class voters.

Among the criticism of the Liberal campaign was the fact that candidates were preselected late in the north and west, despite being hot spots for anti-government sentiment.

“I want to make a plan for four years,” Mr Smith said.

“That includes talking to some of the faith communities and not just being there on election day or three months before election day.

“The reality is there was just no plan early on to start feeding into those groups and in those communities that we didn’t traditionally talk to.”

Warrandyte MP Ryan Smith.

Liberal candidate for Hawthorn John Pesutto. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Smith said the federal election should have been a wake up call to look at “fertile ground” rather than obsessing over the inner city.

This included targeting Victorians sympathetic to the party’s values.

“The faith communities and the working people who just want to get government out of their lives and get on with things,” he said.

Mr Smith said upper house MP Renee Heath would sit in the party room if he was leader, despite Mr Guy saying during the campaign she would be excluded.

Mr Battin, an ally of Mr Smith who launched an unsuccessful leadership bid last term, said he was still weighing up his options and would listen to his family’s view. “Whether it’s me, or me supporting someone else, I want to make the best decision for the party and the party moving forward.”

Other sections of the party were hopeful about former shadow attorney-general Mr Pesutto mounting a challenge as he slipped into the lead in now ultra-marginal Hawthorn.

But a pushback is from those seeking to reduce the ­influence of the party’s “old guard” from the last decade.

There was also support building for upper house MP and transport infrastructure spokesman Mr Bach.

Matt Bach.

Brad Battin.

Under an idea floated on Sunday, he could nominate for Bulleen if Mr Guy decides to quit the seat and leave politics.

This would allow him to seek the leadership as a lower house MP but it is his only likely pathway and it remains unclear whether Mr Guy will go.

Frustrated Liberal MPs on Sunday were highly critical of campaign decisions by state ­director Sam McQuestin and deputy campaign manager Brad Stansfield.

Questions had been raised about their leadership before the campaign, but insiders said Mr Guy had been reluctant to move against them.

Labor’s messaging was much more consistent across the campaign while Liberal MPs complained that their strategy appeared to change week to week.

Sources said structural problems were best summarised by the fact the pair had lived in their native Tasmania during the year, with campaign social media even incorrectly using a hashtag reserved for state politics on the island.

Federal La Trobe MP Jason Wood said the party needed to “change its attitude” in regards to new members who may have previously been in other parties or groups, which the Liberals won’t accept.

Originally published as Multiple Liberal MPs set to fight it out for party’s leadership