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It is time that my Liberal-National colleagues in Canberra hear the message from the Australian people. The values that the Liberal party represents enterprise, liberty, opportunity, a strong economy and a secure country are as important today as at any time in our history.

The Liberal party suffered massive defeats in our heartland not because these values stopped speaking to the electorate but because the electorate stopped hearing a Liberal party speaking for these values.

Moderate Liberals lost their seats because their electorate thought they hadnt done enough on the issues that mattered to them. Its important that the moderate Liberals still in Canberra now find their voice and assertively represent centre Australia. Great MPs do not put party before principle because political parties are the principles MPs stand for.

Too often the previous government indulged in culture wars, egged on by the rightwing commentariat; failed to hear, respect and act on the concerns of women; and pretended facts for example, that humans are causing climate change didnt exist.

And the facts are these: women earn less than men for the same work; women retire with half the superannuation as men; women take on vastly more of the load when it comes to caring for our children and our seniors. One woman dies every week in Australia as a result of domestic or family violence.

No party can stand for liberty and opportunity if it fails to see these issues and want to address them. A party which truly stands for liberty empowers women and affords them the same dignity, opportunity and respect it affords men.

Similarly, no party can seriously say that it stands for a strong economy and a secure country when it is failing to act on climate change.

Climate change risks an environmental catastrophe. It wont just be future generations who will judge our leaders on the action we take a pretty clear judgment was handed down on Saturday night.

Some will say we cant go further on these issues because of the base. Lets be clear, the traditional Liberal party base watches more ABC than Sky After Dark.

Not a single one of the Morrison governments lost seats went to a rightwing party or candidate. One Nation and Clive Palmers United Australia party performed poorly while Labor and the Greens snatched seats.

These seats are not coming back to the Liberal party until the issues these voters care about are sincerely addressed.

Sincerity does not mean some tweaks. It means supporting universal, affordable and accessible childcare so that women do not have to choose between having children and having a career. It means acting on sexual harassment at work. It means speaking out against dangerous anti-vaccine and Trumpian conspiracies.

It also means adopting science-aligned emissions reduction targets of between 45% and 60% by 2030 and developing the policies to achieve it. The science says that the black summer bushfires were the beginning, not the end. The fact is that, until the federal Liberal partys policy position responds commensurately to the climate challenge, every record-breaking natural disaster over coming years will make that policy seem out of touch with the challenge at hand.

Not only is it possible for the Liberal party to respond to the challenges of the moment the Liberal party should be the natural party to take action on climate change. It is a core conservative value to act as a custodian for future generations and, with our wind and sun, no country has more opportunity from the worlds push to decarbonise than Australia.

In New South Wales, we are building renewable energy zones, have set a 50% emissions reduction target by 2030 and have legislated our electricity infrastructure roadmap. The roadmap will reduce Australias greenhouse gas emissions more than any other policy in Australian history.

I announced the roadmap with Dom Perrottet at a solar farm in Dubbo when he was treasurer, and with the then deputy premier, John Barilaro. This landmark policy was supported across all the wings of the Liberal party, the National party, the Labor party, the Greens and the independents. We built that coalition by ensuring we reduced emissions in ways that supported more affordable, reliable electricity, and created thousands of jobs in the regions.

The NSW government, led by my conservative colleague and good friend, premier Perrottet, has also made no secret of the importance we place on promoting gender equity.

Last year we started a review into womens opportunity led by Sam Mostyn of Chief Executive Women. I may have commissioned that review, but it was something that Dom had started working on as treasurer. And it is something which we will respond to in next months budget.

The Liberal party is at its best when its meeting the challenges of the time with principles which have stood the test of time. That is what the NSW Liberal-National government is doing, and that is what I hope to see a newly elected Liberal-National government in Canberra do in three years time, having learned the lessons of last weekend.

Original post:
Liberals still in Canberra must find their moderate voice and assertively represent the centre - The Guardian