Liberal candidate Nathan Conroy secured a primary vote swing of 6.58 per cent to him,consolidating the vote on the right,and cut the two-party preferred margin from 6.3 per cent to 2.7 per cent,but it was not enough.
Three Liberal MPs,who asked not to be named so they could speak freely,expressed frustration on Sunday that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had not released more policies to try and win back voters to the Coalition cause.
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Dutton is expected to make the long-awaited appointment of a shadow assistant treasurer to replace Stuart Robert imminently,with Queenslanders Luke Howarth,Bert Van Manen or Garth Hamilton considered likely to take the role.
To date,the opposition has put nuclear energy on the table,flagged changes to tax cuts but not detailed them,promised to ban sports betting advertising during the broadcasting of games and proposed allowing people to work more without losing benefits.
Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar is working on a detailed housing policy but it is not clear when that will be released.
One Liberal MP told this masthead the result in Dunkley showed the Liberal Party had a “mountain to climb in Melbourne,and really,in all metropolitan areas” and that the party could not take the nearly 4 per cent swing towards for granted.