Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume said the 12.4 per cent of first preferences her party received in the Farrer byelection last night was “disappointing”.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough ask when a retiring member, particularly one that has been long serving [for] more than 20 years, retires, when Labor chooses not to run and there is an anti-establishment push – and that’s really what we’ve seen,” Hume told Sky News this morning.
Jane Hume says the Coalition has lost trust with voters.Oscar Colman
She said the Liberal Party would hear the message sent by the people of Farrer, attributing last night’s result to a loss of trust.
“It was lost with two splits to the Coalition in just 12 months. It was lost when we abandoned all of our policies and people didn’t know what it was that we stood for,” Hume said.
“It’s up to Angus Taylor and I now, to start rebuilding that trust because, as Angus said last night, trust can be lost in an instant, but it takes time to rebuild that.”