The National Party kicks off tour to rebuild support among women, young people

David Littleproud and Perin Davey will head to Mildura next week to kick off the Nationals’ nationwide “listening tour”.

The National Party is attempting to rebuild its standing with women and young people after they deserted the party in droves in the May Federal Election with a national “listening tour”.

Nationals leader David Littleproud will kick off the regional tour next week alongside deputy leader Perin Davey in Mildura, before moving on to NSW’s North Coast and then to Queensland before the end of the year.

Federal National Party leader David Littleproud says he will listen to the concerns of women and young people.

An Australia Institute poll conducted after the election found that Australias thought the treatment of women in politics was the second biggest weakness for the Coalition, behind the state of aged care.

The poll found 28 per cent of women said they would vote for the Coalition, compared with 38 per cent of men.

Disaffected female voters have been credited with the rise of the Teal Independents, having fled the Liberal/National party in the hope of greater action on climate change, gender equality and child care access.

“There are some emerging threats that we have to be aware of, and we can’t sugar-coat it. Women and young people deserted The Nationals and the Liberals, and you can’t rebuild that trust unless you listen,” Mr Littleproud told Sky News.

“This is about making sure that women and young people are given a voice and that they know that The National party is there listening to them around real issues like childcare, around even superannuation caps for families … and even to some of the substance abuse issues that we have out there.”