'Sort it out', junior coalition partner tells Liberals

The federal Liberals are being told by their junior coalition partner to pull their heads in and sort out their issues as a poll shows voters are still turning away in droves.

Liberal deputy leader Ted O’Brien conceded it wasn’t a good look for the party after a senior frontbencher resigned his post just months after the coalition’s worst election defeat in modern history.

“I know it does look messy, but in truth, this is democracy at work,” he said on Monday.

“This is the way you get good policy and we’re not shy of going into bat and debating policy.”

West Australian MP Andrew Hastie sensationally resigned from the shadow cabinet as home affairs spokesman on Friday, saying he had been sidelined on immigration policy and wanted to speak freely from the back bench.

Mr Hastie, who has been touted as a future party leader, has been critical of what he says is a policy of “mass migration” under Labor.

Shadow ministry members are bound to toe the party line or resign, although the Liberals’ policies are yet to be locked in pending the outcome of a review that followed May’s election drubbing.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the Liberals “need to do better”.

“The reality is that while we keep talking about ourselves, the Australian people will keep looking elsewhere,” he said.

“So it’s time for the Liberal Party to work out who they are, what they are and to get on with the job.”

The coalition must focus on the rising cost of living and power prices rather than internal machinations, he added.

“There is so much to prosecute, the fundamentals have not changed,” Mr Littleproud said.

“The reality is unless they can get their stuff together, then the Australian people won’t listen to them.

“My only message is: sort it out and let’s get on with the job.”

Mr Hastie has ruled out challenging for the Liberal leadership and his close colleague James Paterson said he didn’t see any prospect of a change to Sussan Ley’s position at the party’s helm.

“My assessment is Sussan has the strong and overwhelming support of the party room,” the senator and frontbencher said.

He dismissed speculation Mr Hastie would undermine Ms Ley from the back bench.

The party has a history of leadership aspirants resigning their shadow cabinet posts and biding their time before mounting a challenge.

“History is a guide, but it’s not a template and I take Andrew at his word about his motivations,” Senator Paterson said.

A decision on who will take over Mr Hastie’s shadow portfolio of home affairs will be made in the coming days.

His exit coincides with a Newspoll revealing that the coalition’s primary vote remains low at 28 per cent compared to Labor’s 37 per cent, which is the government’s best result since mid-2023.

The slump in support for the coalition coincided with a gain in primary support for right-wing party One Nation, which rose to 11 per cent - its best outcome since 2017.

On a two-party basis, the government leads the coalition by 57 per cent to 43 per cent, according to the poll published in The Australian on Monday.

Liberal senator Maria Kovacic played down the result, saying the election defeat was still raw and Australians weren’t likely to change their minds just months after polling day.

Former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison said the party must focus “on the things that can ensure it can return to government in the future” and encouraged it to dig into policy strengths around the economy and defence.

“These are the core issues that the Liberals and Nationals have always stood for and I’d encourage them to focus on them,” he said.