Liberal frontbencher calls for party ‘rebrand’ after drop in polls, prompting ridicule from Labor

Melissa McIntosh, shadow minister for the NDIS, said ‘I think it’s time for the Liberal Party to rebrand itself.’ Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP View image in fullscreen Melissa McIntosh, shadow minister for the NDIS, said ‘I think it’s time for the Liberal Party to rebrand itself.’ Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Liberal frontbencher calls for party ‘rebrand’ after drop in polls, prompting ridicule from Labor Melissa McIntosh’s comment comes after Angus Taylor’s claim Morrison government ‘breached trust’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has said the party might need a “rebrand” to win back voters who continue to desert the opposition, with the Coalition hitting a new historic polling low. Her comments came after the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, claimed the Morrison government – of which he was a senior minister – had “breached trust” with the electorate during the Covid pandemic by supporting “big government”. On Monday, he defended himself against criticisms, telling 2GB radio: “You can’t turn around a tanker in a few months.” More than four months on from rolling Sussan Ley amid dwindling polling numbers, Taylor’s leadership has seen the Coalition’s slide continue. The Coalition’s primary vote dropped to 17% in Monday’s Newspoll – well behind Labor (33%) and One Nation (29%), and barely above the Greens (13%). A separate poll, from Redbridge research and released on Monday, also found rising support for Labor amid a dip in support for One Nation and the Coalition. Taylor’s leadership is not under imminent threat, but after a series of underwhelming performances, Liberal MPs have quietly begun discussing their concerns about the party’s direction. McIntosh, the shadow minister for the NDIS, said the party needed something fresh. “I think it’s time for the Liberal Party to rebrand itself,” she said on Sky News. “Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future. So I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values.” Noting Sky’s own rebrand, with the channel to be known as News24 from next month, McIntosh didn’t reject questions about whether the Liberal name should be changed. “Does that mean changing name? You mentioned the Sky News rebrand, is it a problem with the word liberal these days?” McIntosh was asked. She replied: “Well, this is the thing. We need to get some experts in and I was just inspired by Sky News.” “But when things aren’t going right within brands, it is a time to take a bit of stock and look at where we can go in the future.” McIntosh said the Liberals needed to not “look like we’re stuck in the past” but instead present as “a modern party with modern values that resonate with not only older people, but women as well.” McIntosh’s remarks were ridiculed by Labor in question time. “No wonder they’re struggling over there, Mr Speaker. We had a shadow minister earlier today speak about abandoning the Liberal Party name,” Anthony Albanese claimed. The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, said: “We’ve got frontbenchers [in the Coalition] openly saying that they need to rethink the existence of their political party. On this side of the parliament, we’re living a very different experience. We don’t need any experts to tell us what the great Australian Labor party stands for.” Andrew Hastie, seen as a future Liberal leader, praised Taylor’s leadership and said he was leading a “good process” of policy development. “It’s going to take time to sell those policies but we’re in winter. We have time and we’ve just got to not get rattled and focus on the mission, which is winning government,” he told the ABC. Taylor, speaking on 2GB radio, said the party had more work to do but attempted to put a positive spin on the situation. “Well, we were in freefall [during Ley’s leadership],” he said. “Now, the Coalition is solid as a rock.” “It’s going to take time because people need to rebuild trust in a Coalition, in a Liberal Party, in a National party that has breached trust,” Taylor conceded. In an interview with The Australian, Taylor claimed the pandemic was one of the times the Coalition breached voters’ trust. “We allowed big government to become accepted, and we don’t believe in big government. Australians felt that government got too big, too heavy, too close to their daily lives,” Taylor told 2GB. “We needed to come out of Covid with a strong plan to pare back on both spending and the role of government in people’s lives.” “I think that is widely accepted on our side of politics now. But that did breach trust and we’ve got to rebuild that trust and rebuilding trust takes time.” Liberal senator Jonno Duniam, who has announced his impending retirement from politics, said his party had been “lost in the wash” amid a “crowded marketplace”. Explore more on these topics Liberal Party Australian politics Angus Taylor Coalition One Nation news Share Reuse this content