Angus Taylor, Tony Abbott and Liberal Party leaders gather in Melbourne to chart election rebuild

The Liberal Party is hoping to rebuild its identity as a viable alternative government during a key national meeting of party leaders and powerbrokers.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will front the Liberal Party federal council meeting in Melbourne on Saturday.

Deputy leader Jane Hume and outgoing federal director Andrew Hirst will also address the gathering.

Senior party leaders told the meeting’s first session on Friday while there were challenges ahead, the party could regain the trust of voters.

“It takes character to rebuild when the work is hard and the path is long,” outgoing federal president John Olsen told the meeting.

Key party policies, including stemming migration and opening the door to nuclear power, were passed by delegates with almost no opposition.

Also at Friday’s meeting, former prime minister Tony Abbott was elected unopposed as party president, taking on the unpaid role which includes helping shape policy and guiding campaign strategy.

He told party faithful the challenge ahead was to persuade Australians the Liberals remained the most credible alternative to form government.

“As the last successful federal leader of the opposition, I do believe that I have the ability to help Angus Taylor to be the next successful federal leader of the opposition,” Mr Abbott said.

Mr Taylor was applauded at Friday’s meeting for his budget reply, which many in the party rated as garnering more interest than the budget itself.

The reply outlined a plan to overhaul the tax system, revoke welfare to non-citizens and slash immigration numbers.

Mr Taylor has been accused since taking the top job in February of leaning further into right-wing policies to avoid losing voters amid a rise in the popularity of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

NSW and Victorian opposition leaders took advantage of Friday’s friendly platform to slam their respective state governments.

Jess Wilson, who will lead the Liberal Party to Victoria’s November state election, said voters in her state had lost hope after 12 years of Labor leadership.

Ms Wilson took aim at former premier Daniel Andrews’ COVID-19 policies, which she said were based on “dubious” science, and mocked plans to build a statue of the former state leader who held the top job for close to a decade.

She promised disciplined budgets and lower taxes through scrapping an Indigenous treaty, putting a freeze on public service hiring and capping public sector executive salaries.

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane accused Premier Chris Minns of putting the brakes on her state’s economy after decades of Liberal growth.

Ms Sloane said the NSW election, scheduled for March 2027, would be one to watch - noting a first-term government had not lost an election in the state for almost a century.