The Liberal party are now a movement in search of a purpose.

In its halcyon days during the Howard government, the Coalition enjoyed a strong lead over Labor on economic management in all public polling. And while the Howard government also typically held leads over Labor on national security and immigration, the foundation of their electoral success was its differentiation from Labor on economic management which was the most salient issue among swing voters.

In the last Australian Financial Review opinion poll conducted by RedBridge Group and Accent Research in December 2025, only 19% of voters believed the then Coaliton was the best party to deal with cost of living and housing affordability, which are currently the two most important vote drivers in the electorate.

If it’s going to be competitive again, the focus of a reformed Coalition needs to be on repairing its performance numbers on economic management and housing.

A good place to start is by looking at what John Hewson started and John Howard and Peter Costello finished: recovering from its 1980s dysfunction by unifying around a singular organising principle on economic reform.

But that is going to require a significant internal mindset change from both the Liberal and National parties. Over the past decade, the Nationals have increasingly become the tail wagging the dog when it comes to its Liberal party partners. Today’s National party is no longer the party that Tim Fischer once led, which fought for better services and infrastructure in the regions but also recognised that concessions needed to be made in those urban seats where the great majority of Australian voters live.

The modern National party no longer makes those concessions and instead has been playing a zero-sum game that is making both centre-right parties increasingly irrelevant to voters in their respective........

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