00:00There are good members, good candidates who have lost their seats or their ambition, and
00:20I'm sorry for that.
00:21There's no reason to think that we won't disappear over time if we don't get our act
00:26together.
00:27That's how serious this challenge is for the Liberal Party.
00:29Thank you very much.
00:31The Liberal Party is in a world of pain, shattered by their worst election defeat.
00:37We alienated women, we offended public servants, we offended multicultural communities, we insulted
00:44people who live in the inner cities.
00:46It was almost as if we were running out of new people to offend.
00:49Australians actually said, we've been trying to tell you and you're not listening, so now
00:53we need to send you a very, very strong message.
00:57Have you hit rock bottom?
00:58I think the answer is no, there's further for us to go.
01:03The Coalition split for the first time in decades.
01:06I don't take a backward step in putting the National Party's best interests on the table in the
01:13Australian Parliament.
01:14Within days, they were ready to reconcile.
01:16I had a brief meeting with Susan Lee and she made an offer.
01:23There are also deep divisions inside the Liberal Party.
01:28The question now, can the party of Howard and Menzies ever get back into government?
01:33Our first task is to make sure we are listening to the Australian people.
01:39Is that a concession that there wasn't enough listening to Australian voters over the last
01:43term?
01:44Clearly, we weren't listening well enough.
01:47The people you have to persuade to vote for you live in the centre ground of Australian politics.
01:53But if you spend your time in an echo chamber of far right-wing opinion, you're never going
01:59to get them.
02:00Some people think the Liberal Party should lean into some of these culture wars.
02:04Well, there are some people who say that and I think they're nuts.
02:08In this episode of Four Corners, we speak to some of the key figures in the now decimated
02:13Liberal Party room.
02:15This is a crisis about the party's diminishing appeal to middle Australia.
02:20They're fighting for the party's heart and soul in a contest that could redefine Australian
02:25politics.
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