Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has again sought to recast his public image, saying a controversial joke he made in 2015 about climate change in the Pacific was in "poor taste".
Mr Dutton was immigration minister when he was caught on an open microphone in 2015 joking about "water lapping at [the] door" of Pacific Island nations.
It is a comment that is still used by Labor to accuse the Coalition of damaging relationships in the region, an issue that became one of the focuses of the election campaign after the security pact between China and Solomon Islands was made official.
The newly-elected Liberal leader apologised for the comment in 2015 and today reiterated that he regretted making it.
"I've made some poor-taste jokes, like any person, over the years, and I've apologised for that," he said.
"I'm as human and as frail as anybody else."
Over the past week, Mr Dutton has been trying to recast his image, urging people to reserve their judgement of him until they see his "entire character".
He repeated his argument that positions he has held in the past — such as defence, home affairs and immigration — have not allowed him to show his complete self and were roles that made it hard to "crack into a smile or a joke".
Women 'didn't hear' Liberal Party, Ley says
Mr Dutton's newly-elected deputy, Sussan Ley, said she planned to visit and speak to women in seats the Liberals lost to hear from them about what the party needs to do to win back their vote.
Ms Ley has acknowledged that women turned away from the party during the election and said the new leadership was determined to win back their trust.
"I think that women didn't hear much of what we were saying. They didn't believe, perhaps, that we were focusing on them and their lives," she said.
"But, again, many women actually did support us and I've heard from many of those women.
"I'm not stepping back from the fact that many women didn't support us and I want to have honest conversations and I don't want to gloss over anything and I want to hear directly from women."
Ms Ley said she would talk to the New South Wales state division of the party about the idea of quotas for female representation, but that it was more important to her that there was a clear pathway for women to enter politics and put up their hand.
She also indicated the Coalition might be supportive of implementing the recommendations of the Respect@Work report and that making it an employer's obligation, called a "positive duty", to stamp out sexual harassment in the workplace was "worth further consideration".
Vows to change preselection process
New South Wales Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has called for an overhaul of preselection processes after the party's election defeat.
Pre-selections in the state were delayed after federal intervention, which installed candidates without a vote by rank-and-file members.
That included the controversial candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, who was hand-picked by former prime minister Scott Morrison, among others.
In a letter to party members, Senator Bragg said the party was not a dictatorship and called for the federal leader's influence over pre-selection processes to be curtailed.
"Your right to have your say and select our candidates is the most important reason to be a member. Yet this precious right was taken away as our constitution was twisted and buckled," he wrote.
"We are determined to ensure that this never happens again."
The reforms listed include a clear timetable for selections which must be made publicly available.
To ensure the party was competitive at the next election, the moderate senator said those reforms were necessary.
