{"id":704600,"date":"2026-05-30T16:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704600\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T16:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:13:20","slug":"one-nations-rise-economic-anxiety-and-institutional-failure-reshaping-politics-for-the-liberal-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704600\/","title":{"rendered":"One Nation\u2019s rise: Economic anxiety and institutional failure reshaping politics for the Liberal Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

The Liberal Party\u2019s outgoing federal director has delivered a blunt warning to his party\u2019s most senior figures, declaring the organisation faces a demographic crisis among young people and women, and warning that \u201cOne Nation are not going away\u201d.<\/p>\n

Addressing the second day of the Liberal Party\u2019s federal council meeting in Melbourne on Saturday, Andrew Hirst used his final speech after nine years as director to describe the systemic problems facing the party following its 2025 election defeat.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Hirst delivers his outgoing speech as director of Liberal Party at its federal conference on Saturday.AAP Image\/Jay Kogler<\/p>\n

Hirst, whose departure as federal director coincides with former prime minister Tony Abbott\u2019s appointment as federal president, pointed to persistent institutional failures across consecutive election cycles. He cited figures showing that, since 2010, the number of Australians describing themselves as a lifetime Liberal, National or Labor voter had halved. \u201cMore and more voters are making decisions election by election, issue by issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that while new party leader Angus Taylor and deputy leader Jane Hume had made a strong start, the Liberals needed to tackle internal membership issues. \u201cMore than 55 per cent of Liberal Party members are aged over 60,\u201d Hirst said, with census data showing only 23 per cent of the wider Australian population was in that age bracket. \u201cLess than 10 per cent of our membership is aged between 16 and 30.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hirst also noted the party\u2019s remaining younger cohorts were overwhelmingly male. \u201cIf you look at that party membership for those aged between 16 and 45, membership skews heavily male,\u201d Hirst said. \u201cPolitical parties cannot remain strong if they become disconnected from the broader community they seek to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew federal president of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott (left) with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor at the party\u2019s federal council on Saturday.Joe Armao<\/p>\n

Hirst said the rapid rise of One Nation was the result both of economic anxiety and the collapse of the Australian idea that if you worked hard, you got a fair go. \u201cOne Nation\u2019s rise from single-digit support of around 6 per cent at the last election to now somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent has been rapid, but it is fuelled by frustrations that have built up over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Voters wanted hip-pocket issues addressed, but a deeper drive was also turning the electorate off the major parties: \u201cIn Australia, what\u2019s supposed to happen is that if you work hard, play by the rules, and take responsibility, you can get ahead. Many Australians feel this isn\u2019t happening, and the system isn\u2019t working for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

A review of the party\u2019s 2025 federal campaign described how Hirst \u2013 who spearheaded Scott Morrison\u2019s 2019 election victory \u2013 had been frozen out<\/a> by then-opposition leader Peter Dutton and his office.<\/p>\n

Hirst credited Taylor\u2019s federal budget reply as a good start in fighting back against One Nation but urged his party to outline real solutions for Australians, to win that battle. \u201cOne Nation are not going away, they\u2019re not our friends, and ignoring them is not an option,\u201d Hirst said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Dionne<\/a><\/p>\n

Hirst pointed to Queensland as the model for how mainstream conservatives could successfully restrict One Nation\u2019s growth. There, at the state level, Coalition support had \u201cheld up most strongly, and One Nation support has surged least\u201d because of what Hirst said was an effective state conservative government. \u201cThat leaves less of a vacuum for others to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kos Samaras, director of political research firm Redbridge and former Labor strategist, agreed the Queensland state government was doing well. \u201cThey are a government focused on bread-and-butter issues \u2013 they don\u2019t obsess about culture wars, and they don\u2019t get diverted from who is allowed to walk into what bathroom. They get on with the job of running government,\u201d Samaras said.<\/p>\n

But he noted this didn\u2019t hold up federally. \u201cAt a federal level in Queensland, the Coalition is getting wiped out by One Nation, even if at the state level we have a state LNP government holding the dam wall up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hume did not name One Nation in her speech but did tell the conference \u201cwe are not a party of grievance or protest\u201d, adding that the Coalition was \u201cnot untried. We are not untested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hume defended Abbott\u2019s capacity to appeal to a broad demographic. Pointing to his electoral record as leader, Hume said more women \u201cvoted for the Liberal Party back in 2010 and 2013 than are voting for us now. It\u2019ll be terrific to have Tony at the helm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FederalFederal Opposition Deputy Leader Jane Hume.Peter Rae<\/p>\n

Former federal minister and current Tasmanian treasurer Eric Abetz argued the party\u2019s membership decline was a societal trend rather than an isolated Liberal problem, and he disputed the idea the Liberals should pull back from contentious debates on social values like, he said, \u201cwhat\u2019s a boy, what\u2019s a girl\u201d. Abetz agreed the threat from One Nation was significant: \u201cPotentially it is existential, and what we need to do is ensure that we don\u2019t give them grounds to solidify their support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Western Australia\u2019s Basil Zempilas told the conference that his 15 months leading the state party made him \u201cthe longest serving Liberal opposition leader in Australia\u201d. The former football commentator used a sporting analogy to float optimism for the federal Liberal Party under Taylor and Hume\u2019s leadership, saying that on Friday, Carlton, \u201ca team who were down and out just a few weeks ago changed their coach. Change of leadership has produced three consecutive victories, and suddenly they are knocking on the door of the finals when only a month or so ago they were down and out. It\u2019s good to dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"ClayClay Lucas<\/a> is an investigative reporter at The Age who has covered urban affairs, state and federal politics, industrial relations, transport, health and aged care. Email him at clucas@theage.com.au or claylucas@protonmail.com, or via Signal +61439828128.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"BrittanyBrittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-704600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}