Pauline Hanson’s party takes seat off Liberals as David Farley claims historic victory

Liberal deputy leader Jane Hume said the 12.4 per cent of first preferences her party received in the Farrer by-election last night was “disappointing”.

“We always knew it would be a difficult task for a retiring member, especially one who has served for over 20 years, to retire, for Labor to choose not to run and for an anti-establishment crackdown to emerge, and indeed that’s what we’ve seen,” Hume told Sky News this morning.

He said the Liberal Party would hear the message Farrer’s people had sent, attributing last night’s result to a loss of confidence.

“It was lost with two splits in the coalition in just 12 months. It was lost when we abandoned all our policies and people didn’t know what we stood for,” Hume said.

“It’s now down to Angus Taylor and myself to rebuild that trust because as Angus said last night, trust can be lost in an instant, but it takes time to rebuild it.”