The autopsy on the Coalition’s election performance has disintegrated into open warfare with senior Liberals and Nationals sniping at each other on strategy, leadership and policy failure as Labor seeks to consolidate its lead.
What began as a mundane post election stocktaking session has become a public blame shaming process through the ages.
It also exposed the underlying divisions regarding global warming the party’s voice to parliament strategy the economy and its waning fortunes in the metropolitan areas.
The saga has also attracted amusement from political opponents and reinforced questioning of whether the conservatives can reunite.
Liberals admit that they’re struggling to bring their urban and rural branches together.
Moderates claim that the party failure to regain professional voters from the inner city area contributed to the loss. They had previously deserted the Liberal party over climate change and integrity issues.
However, the conservatives claim that the party can’t afford to pursue the teal voters as it compromises relations with the Nationals party.
Some have variously accused the Liberals of abandoning core principles and campaigning without conviction, while others warn that the junior party is tired of being blamed for positions it did not set.
The tensions have played out across radio interviews and social media, with grievances aired in real time. The Nationals figures have been equally blunt.
Labor has jumped on Labor MPs have ridiculed the Coalition’s internal ructions as proof it is still unfit to govern arguing that voters tossed out a divided opposition with no economic narrative to speak of.
The Prime Minister has maintained this turbulence inside the Coalition contrasts with he says is stable leadership in the government that focuses on cost of living pressures, wages and investment certainty.
The recriminations come at a sensitive moment for the opposition.
The economy remains soft, households are still grappling with high prices and interest rates and the government is preparing its next budget with an emphasis on fiscal restraint.
Ordinarily this would offer fertile ground for a disciplined opposition. Instead the Coalition is mired in questions about who should lead and what it stands for.
Former ministers have called on colleagues to take their differences behind closed doors warning that the public spectacle risks setting in concrete the perception of chaos.
Some are demanding a more explicit economic agenda focused on productivity, small business and tax reform while others insist that cultural issues cannot be sidelined.
History tells us that opposition parties can recover from defeat if they settle leadership quickly and articulate a compelling alternative. For now, the Coalition appears some distance from that point.
With tempers flaring and fingers pointing the challenge is not just rebuilding electoral support but convincing voters that the wreckage can be cleared and a united front reinstated.
