Face of Nation : The Liberal Party must understand that conservatives are not their “base” as some politicians would have people believe, former MP Craig Laundy has declared.
The former western Sydney MP has also stressed the need for the Liberals to have more women and people from culturally diverse backgrounds in their ranks. Mr Laundy has made the comments a year after the week in which Malcolm Turnbull was toppled as prime minister.
Mr Turnbull had thrown open the Liberal leadership and was being winged by Peter Dutton’s forces, only to have his own party turn on him and rally behind Scott Morrison.
As the party moves on from that tumultuous era, Mr Laundy said it’s time for its conservative side to acknowledge they don’t represent all of those people most likely to vote Liberal. “The base is not the conservative side of the party,” he told a book launch event at Canberra’s National Press Club on Tuesday.
“The key for us moving forward is to understand the base is anyone you can convince with good solid policy platform, to vote for you, over time.” Improving diversity in the party is also crucial to its future, he said.
“We have to confront the fact that we need more women, and not just women – everyone focuses on women, as they should – we need more culturally-representative representation too.”
Mr Laundy also wants the Liberals to change how they recruit new members, worrying many of the party’s MPs are now produced through one standard “factory” process similar to that in the Labor Party.
“Until we as a party address that structure, and find ways to get people that are prepared to turn their back on their own career for a while, and serve publicly, but not get torn to shreds in doing it, I think that’s the struggle we’re really going to have.”
Climate change is an issue where the party may struggle to find common ground among diverse views, he says. “It is one hell of a gap for us to try and traverse.”
After becoming prime minister in August 2018, Mr Morrison went on to make a number of cabinet and policy changes and retain government at the May 18 election.
Mr Laundy said some of the victory can be attributed to the quality of Mr Morrison’s opponent, then-Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. “I genuinely believe that Australians found him unelectable.”
The latest Newspoll published on Monday put the Liberal-National coalition on 51 per cent of the two-party preferred vote over Labor, now led by Anthony Albanese.
