Liberal Party soul-searching has begun in the wake of the Victorian election after a string of losses sparked immediate questions over its lack of traction at the state and federal level.
Federal Liberal leader Peter Dutton did not play an active part in the state election campaign and did not appear alongside his Victorian counterpart Matthew Guy in the lead-up to the poll.
In contrast, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared alongside Premier Daniel Andrews last week.
Senior Liberal Josh Frydenberg lost the party's Melbourne stronghold of Kooyong to teal independent Monique Ryan at the federal election in May, and fellow Liberal MP Tim Wilson also lost his seat of Goldstein to teal Zoe Daniel.
Senior Victorian Liberal Georgie Crozier defended Mr Dutton, saying he had visited the state a number of times in recent weeks but was not part of the formal campaign.
"There are clear issues here in the state of Victoria. I think Victorians understand you know a federal poll compared to a state poll," she told reporters on Saturday night.
Federal Liberal senator Jane Hume said while the Liberals had enjoyed some good swings they were just in the wrong seats.
"There's going to be some soul-searching ... I think that there was a much better policy platform this election than there was at the last election," Senator Hume said on Sky.
"Maybe we didn't get the clear air to be able to to advertise it."
Victorian Labor was quick to home in on Liberal criticisms of Mr Andrews' handling of the pandemic, which put him at odds with the federal Liberals while they held power.
Senator Hume said she agreed with criticism of bringing back Liberal leader Matthew Guy for the poll after a significant loss in 2018.
"People haven't changed, there's no renewal in the party," she said.
The Liberals needed to be clear on the the party's values, Senator Hume said.
"There's different people in the parliament with different views, different people in the Liberal Party, and that's OK to be diverse.
"But somehow you have to still communicate a value set and what you stand for, and I think that was really clear through through this election."
Former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger laid the blame on the "toxic leadership" of Malcolm Turnbull on the dismal 2018 state election result where Labor won in a landslide.
"It wasn't Matthew or his colleagues that lost the election. The disease from the federal party killed Matthew Guy's chances," he told Sky viewers.
"We did badly off the back of the Malcolm Turnbull leadership fiasco, which went on for months. We had allegations of bullying against women MPs, we had the whole Julia Banks fiasco."
Former federal Labor minister Stephen Conroy said Labor's victory on Saturday showed the danger of Mr Dutton's climate position to the Victorian Liberals.
"... If (Dutton) wants any chance of winning any of the sorts of seats we're talking about here plus in Sydney, he is going to have to step significantly forward on the climate change issue, which is going to be very hard for him."
Following Saturday's defeat in Victoria Tasmania is now the only place in the country where the Liberals hold power.
