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We continued to struggle after the outbreak.

We didnt read the room on state borders.

We flip-flopped in response to the backlash.

We barely produced strong policies with widespread appeal.

Nor did the parliamentary party adopt the multitude of policies submitted by its rank-and-file membership.

When the election came around, it was left scrambling for policies.

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By the time policies on the run began being announced, that was done through a fairly centralised process.

And by that stage, voters had stopped listening to us.

That green energy policy was an interesting experiment.

It was rushed through without any consultation with the wider party.

Energy policy remains the single most divisive force in Australian politics.

Who could forget the backlash and leadership spills on both sides of federal politics over the Emissions Trading Scheme, the Carbon and Mining Taxes, and the National Energy Guarantee.

Proposing that particular policy at the 11th hour was never going to swing any new votes.

On the flipside, it was always going to cost us existing votes from our traditional support base.

There has been no shortage of diagnosis since election day.

Whats needed now is the cure.

My prescription presents a simple first step: grassroots policy development.

The Liberal Party is lucky that its membership base is made up of so many successful individuals.

They bring to the table their own unique life experiences and industry-specific knowledge from different professions.

With the parliamentary party now reduced to fewer members than a cricket team, there is no alternative other than to draw on the wisdom of the rank-and-file membership to develop good policies.

There will be no state preselections for a couple of years.

But there will be sitting weeks in State Parliament.

And guess what? The partys performance will ultimately be judged on the alternative policies we can offer West Australians.

Besides, the whole point of preselections is to have candidates advocate for policies based on Liberal values.

If were struggling on that front, then whose portrait we chuck on a Liberal Party poster becomes irrelevant.

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If personalities mattered more than policies, youd think that changing leaders wouldve done the trick. It didnt.

Lets fix the policy development process first.

We cant go on hiding behind the clichs of the electoral cycle and unprecedented political environment to downplay our responsibilities.

Using this election result as an excuse to lash out at others also achieves nothing.

It only distracts us from rebuilding ourselves in the image of the We Believe statement that is read out before every state council meeting.

Lets start practising what we preach.

What has been outlined here is fairly straight-forward.

Theres no reason why it cant be actioned right away.

Its only through grassroots policies based on Liberal values that we will succeed in regaining the confidence of those we left behind on March 13, 2021.

Its time to bring back our volunteers, our supporters and our voters.

By-elections happen at unexpected times. Imagine if there was one around the corner.

In the fond memories of Darling Range, we must be ready to win.

The road to recrimination and revenge leads to a dead end.

Its the road to redemption and reform that will make the WA Liberal Party great again. Lets get to work.

Dr Sherry Sufi is Chairman of the WA Liberal Partys Policy Committee. He is an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. His PhD was on language and nationalism. The opinions expressed here are his own.

Excerpt from:
Path ahead for WA Liberals could lead to reform or revenge the choice is the partys - WAtoday