Sussan Ley demands Liberals reconnect with voters, concedes party has ‘lost touch’ with Australians
The woman desperate to become Australia’s next Prime Minister urges her defeated and divided colleagues to reconnect with voters, reassert their values and develop new policies.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley used a statement released to celebrate her party’s 81st birthday to plead with her colleagues to lift their collective game, months on from its worst-ever election showing.
The manifesto took a few shots at the Government for what Ms Ley deemed “lower living standards”, a home ownership “lottery” and $1.2 trillion in debt.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.But she conceded her party had lost touch with Australians, highlighted by an election shellacking that saw Labor surge to a 94-seat majority.
“We didn’t lose because of our values, we lost because we failed to heed them,” Ms Ley said.
“The values of the Liberal Party are not for changing, we must re-adopt them ... now is a time to reconnect with the Australians with whom we have lost touch.”
Referencing former prime minister Robert Menzies’ famed “forgotten people” speech, Ms Ley said Australia risked developing a “forgotten generation” if her party can’t wrest back power.
“Because an entire generation is being left behind by Labor’s failure to responsibly manage the budget and pay down the national debt,” she said.
Ms Ley’s statement came a day after one the party’s most senior figures, senator James Paterson, said it was time to stop the “apology tour” for the election defeat.
“People aren’t going to vote for us at the next election in two-and-a-half years’ time because we’ve spent a lot of time apologising for our failings,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
The Liberals’ post-election recovery has been hurt by infighting that included shadow cabinet resignations from senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and MP Andrew Hastie.
Ms Ley’s personal polling is also less than ideal.
Recent survey figures from Resolve showed just 33 per cent of voters rated Ms Ley’s performance as good or very good, down from 41 per cent in September.
The poll indicated 38 per cent of voters said Ms Ley’s performance was poor or very poor - six points higher than the last reading.
