“Marginal” voices agitating to break up the Liberal Party would cause disaster for the nation’s oldest political alliance, senior Liberal James Paterson warns, cautioning colleagues against splitting up.<\/p>\n
In a keynote address to Liberal allies, the shadow finance minister also said more than five months on from the Coalition’s worst ever electoral defeat, it was now time for the “apology tour” to come to an end.<\/p>\n
The party’s election drubbing, which left the Coalition just 43 of 150 lower house seats, 28 belonging to the Liberals, has prompted a deep reflection of what the party stands for in the 21st century, what its pathway back to government is, and a factional fight between conservatives and moderates for control of it.<\/p>\n
Senator Paterson said debate was healthy, but the Liberal Party’s power was in the fusion of its conservative and moderate flanks.<\/p>\n
“Despite the economic and political success of Australian liberalism, there are some marginal voices arguing that the Liberal Party should split,” Senator Paterson said.<\/p>\n
“They argue that the differences between people who call themselves ‘conservatives’ and ‘liberals’ today are unbridgeable and we should go our separate ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our task is to make sure these voices remain marginal.”<\/p>\n
There is a widely held view among Liberals that the pursuit of unity under Peter Dutton last term hampered the “necessary” debate on its identity issues that was now being held \u2014 sometimes in public view.<\/p>\n
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has spent the months since the election building a framework for the party to hash out its issues, including subcommittees led by MPs that could develop the party’s core offerings to voters, reviews of its electoral loss and a standalone investigation of one of the most fractious issues for the Coalition: its energy and climate policy.<\/p>\n
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Sussan Ley is reviewing Coalition policies. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
Senator Paterson, a senior conservative, has been a firm backer of Ms Ley’s leadership and was promoted to her leadership team in recent months.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile others, most prominently Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Andrew Hastie, have drawn attention and sometimes consternation as they jostle to shape the party’s future.<\/p>\n
Both are now sitting on the backbench because of it.<\/p>\n
Ideological split ‘would be a disaster’<\/p>\n
There are whispers on both ends of the Liberal Party about whether going their separate ways would give them a better chance of survival.<\/p>\n
Among some conservatives, the question is whether a party in the form of British conservative Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could reclaim votes lost to right-wing parties such as One Nation and United Australia Party, and succeed in regional Australia.<\/p>\n
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Some Liberals are looking to British conservative Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. (Reuters: Phil Noble)<\/p>\n
Among some moderates, the question is whether a breakaway party could pursue “teal” MPs in city seats to reclaim territory that was once considered Liberal heartland.<\/p>\n
Senator Paterson noted while Farage’s Reform UK was polling at about 30 per cent, enough to possibly see political success in a non-compulsory “first-past-the-post” election, that was below the primary vote result that delivered the Coalition its worst election defeat.<\/p>\n