Libs warned: adapt to change or risk a dire future
Despite the promise of a bold new direction from the newly formed leadership team, one leading observer warns things will get very bad for the Liberals unless they make real, fundamental changes.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor has laid out his plan for the party’s new direction under his and deputy leader Jane Hume’s direction.
The two were quick to promise to lower taxes, focus on housing affordability and take a tough stance on immigration.
Even with an injection of new leadership energy, the party finds itself in a difficult situation, says pollster Kos Samaras.
Mr Taylor and Ms Hume said they faced many of the same challenges that Sussan Ley had faced before them, namely the loss of support from most groups of voters.
Mr Samaras told AAP that the conservative party was subject to two gravitational pulls.
One of them is from Generation X and the right-wing group, consisting of former Liberal voters who reject established centre-right political parties.
“It will be very difficult to win them back because they are driven by a sense of economic abandonment,” he said.
The other group consists of progressives and women in urban settings who have moved away from the coalition.
“Angus Taylor can’t be ultra-conservative on some issues and then try to pretend he can talk to progressive Melbourne and Sydney,” Mr Samaras said.
“He’ll get stuck just like Susan Ley got stuck.
“It faces the same problems that established centre-right parties in the Western World have faced as they have been replaced by right-wing populist movements.
“This is basically his problem.
“They can change their leaders all they want, but they are facing a major geopolitical movement.”
Friday’s leadership spill comes after polling showed the coalition’s preselection votes had fallen to a record low and been overtaken by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Mr Taylor ousted the party’s first female leader by a vote of 34 to 17, ending her term after just nine months.
Shortly after the leak, Ms Ley announced she would spend the coming weeks in her regional constituency of Farrer in NSW before resigning from parliament.
A by-election will be needed to elect a new MP for Farrer in what appears to be a major early test for Mr Taylor.
He will need to prove he can fend off challenges from independents and One Nation, who rank higher than the Liberals in the polls.
“This is never going to be easy,” Mr Taylor told reporters in Goulburn on Saturday.
“We’re realistic about this and we need to rebuild the trust of voters across Australia, including Farrer. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Mr. Samaras added that while restoring trust would not happen quickly, the party’s structural problems would require changes that could only be resolved over time.
“If nothing changes, we will see a situation where the Liberal Party will be looking at a world where it is no longer a major political force,” he said.
“Things may change, but the outlook is looking pretty bleak for them right now.”
