Four Corners hears from senior Liberals on party’s ‘botched’ campaign

ABC NEWS (Australia)

How will the Liberal party recover from its historic election loss?  Tonight, Four Corners talks to Liberal insiders as they grapple with the existential crisis of what the party stands for and who it represents.

Transcript

00:00There are good members, good candidates who have lost their seats or their ambition, and

00:20I'm sorry for that.

00:21There's no reason to think that we won't disappear over time if we don't get our act

00:26together.

00:27That's how serious this challenge is for the Liberal Party.

00:29Thank you very much.

00:31The Liberal Party is in a world of pain, shattered by their worst election defeat.

00:37We alienated women, we offended public servants, we offended multicultural communities, we insulted

00:44people who live in the inner cities.

00:46It was almost as if we were running out of new people to offend.

00:49Australians actually said, we've been trying to tell you and you're not listening, so now

00:53we need to send you a very, very strong message.

00:57Have you hit rock bottom?

00:58I think the answer is no, there's further for us to go.

01:03The Coalition split for the first time in decades.

01:06I don't take a backward step in putting the National Party's best interests on the table in the

01:13Australian Parliament.

01:14Within days, they were ready to reconcile.

01:16I had a brief meeting with Susan Lee and she made an offer.

01:23There are also deep divisions inside the Liberal Party.

01:28The question now, can the party of Howard and Menzies ever get back into government?

01:33Our first task is to make sure we are listening to the Australian people.

01:39Is that a concession that there wasn't enough listening to Australian voters over the last

01:43term?

01:44Clearly, we weren't listening well enough.

01:47The people you have to persuade to vote for you live in the centre ground of Australian politics.

01:53But if you spend your time in an echo chamber of far right-wing opinion, you're never going

01:59to get them.

02:00Some people think the Liberal Party should lean into some of these culture wars.

02:04Well, there are some people who say that and I think they're nuts.

02:08In this episode of Four Corners, we speak to some of the key figures in the now decimated

02:13Liberal Party room.

02:15This is a crisis about the party's diminishing appeal to middle Australia.

02:20They're fighting for the party's heart and soul in a contest that could redefine Australian

02:25politics.

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