Federal elections: Josh Friedenberg gives way to Cuyon in a stunning defeat

A high-ranking member of the national parliaments called Victoria’s Liberals “the machine that lost the election”, calling on the party to learn a lesson from the defeat of Josh Friedenberg.

In a statement Monday, the outgoing treasurer confirmed that he had officially ceded Cuyon to independent candidate Monique Ryan.

“It has been an incredible privilege to serve local members for the past 12 years,” he said.

Former Cabinet Secretary Darren Chester has said the party must learn the lessons of Mr Friedenberg’s loss if Victoria’s Liberals are competitive in the state election in November.

“The Liberal Party in Victoria is a machine that lost the election, and anyone who thinks that the result in November will be different if they do not change direction now, just kidding,” – wrote the MP from Nationals on social media.

“If the belt of wealth is ready to throw away a tolerant, experienced and capable treasurer, for an untested activist, you need to listen to the message, no matter how unpleasant it is,” he wrote.

Mr. Chester was re-elected to Gipsland with a 4.5 percent advantage.

But he acknowledged that his party should take some of the blame for the moderate liberal bloodbath in Sydney and Melbourne.

“We need to take some responsibility for the loss of liberals in the city, because the more extreme views of some colleagues are undoubtedly detrimental to the chances of our urban cousins,” Mr Chester said.

“It was simply and destructively effective to say that the vote for those moderate liberals was a vote for the ‘dinosaurs’ in The Nationals who did not believe in climate change.”

He warned that a “further turn to political rights” would only lead the coalition to political absurdity.

Mr Chester’s intervention comes at a time when liberals are seeking to lift themselves up after a brutal election defeat that has brought down the previously safe seats of Quing, Goldstein and Higgins.

In Sydney the independents now occupy Wentworth, North Sydney, Waring and McKellar.

Future Secretary of Defense Peter Datton is expected to become the next Liberal leader after Scott Morrison confirmed he will step aside.