Senior West Australian Liberal Michaelia Cash has said she did not agree with the federal government's support of Clive Palmer's legal challenge to WA's hard border, conceding it contributed to the party's disastrous election result.
"The decision was made at the time because of legal reasons," she said.
"The feedback that both Ben Morton and I had given at the time [was] we did not support the challenge.
"In the end, after consulting with Premier [Mark] McGowan, the Prime Minister understood that we needed to back Western Australia and we withdrew from the challenge.
Mr Morton's loss in the seat of Tangney, previously considered safe Liberal territory, was one of several shock results in WA.
Senator Cash believed the popularity of the Premier was key.
"The vote was clear, Western Australians very much supported the approach of Mark McGowan," she said.
Scott Morrison 'great friend to WA': Cash
Senator Cash said WA had gone its own way through the COVID-19 pandemic, giving the state a different perspective on politics.
"We were able to do it differently in Western Australia," she said.
"We were able to close the border and keep everybody else out and in doing that, we lived a life that really, across Australia, no one else lived."
In 2021, Scott Morrison appeared to liken West Australians to cave dwellers, referring to the film The Croods and saying, "we can't stay in the cave".
"That was not what he was saying at the time," Senator Cash maintained.
"What he was saying was there was a light at the end of the tunnel."
Senator Cash insisted Mr Morrison "was actually a great friend to Western Australia and that was evident in relation to getting us our fair share of GST".
"On any analysis, that was one of the greatest things our government did," she said of the 2018 move to set a 70-cents-in-the-dollar floor on the amount of GST revenue a state could receive."
She said the swing to Labor could also be attributed to "a true structural change in the way politics works in Australia".
Liberals lament teal vote
Senator Cash said the WA seat of Curtin was always going to be "very, very tight", and reiterated that the so-called teal candidates were not necessarily independents, but a coordinated group of people.
"What we have seen is the Liberal Party vote has transferred, in many cases, to those independents," she said.
"Those inner-city seats, here it's in Curtin, you see them in New South Wales, you've seen in it Brisbane, you've seen it in Victoria.
"They're not going Labor, they are going teal."
She said the vote was also changing in outer-city seats, which used to be Labor territory.
Senator Cash maintained the Liberals had run a good campaign in WA and would now seek a new beginning.
"The rebuilding process has well and truly started in the Western Australian Liberal Party," she said.
Ken Wyatt says major parties lost touch
Ken Wyatt, who lost Hasluck, said he believed the major parties had lost touch with families.
"That's why we've had so many independents come through," he said.
"Because they are speaking about the issues that families want addressed and parties are not immovable bodies, but they've just got to listen more, engage more.
"It's about being out there, talking to people every single chance that you get."
The former Indigenous affairs minister said he was "not really" disappointed over his loss.
"I have enjoyed every moment and I am pleased to leave a legacy for Indigenous Australians.
"We now have seven to nine members and that's an incredible shift in Australia's history."
Mr Wyatt said he had aspirations for the Indigenous Voice to be enshrined in legislation with a view to constitutional recognition, and he would have "loved" to have finished that work.
He said having state parliaments reporting on Closing the Gap targets, and fostering Aboriginal economic development, were among his achievements.
