Wannon MP Dan Tehan licks his wounds and returns to friendly turf

“My view on life is that the sun always comes up the next morning, and the thing is, you've just got to get on with it.”

It’s Monday morning, and Wannon MP Dan Tehan, a Liberal, is outside the Colac Post Office, shaking hands with locals and posing for photos. It’s the first stop of a series of “listening posts” he has planned for the district today.

This is friendly territory, and the tension within the party room in Canberra last week, where Tehan failed in his bid to become Liberal deputy leader, seems a world away.

The background: The problem for the seasoned and ambitious MP is that he really has nothing to sell, as nine months after the last federal election the Liberal and National parties are still gazing at their own navels. 

Reviews into the 2025 Peter Dutton calamity are ongoing, and for some months, the Coalition parties have been barely able to look each other in the eye, adding to what some see as a suffocating sense of ennui and inertia.

Dutton’s replacement Sussan Ley was formulating a new plan of attack, but last week she was dumped in favour of Angus Taylor. Tehan lost out as deputy to Jane Hume.

What’s the pitch? The Wannon MP’s politics are closer to Taylor’s than Ley’s, but he still has nothing to pitch to the electorate beyond motherhood statements.

And so on Monday morning, he spoke for about eight minutes, but didn’t say much of anything.

In short, he wanted people to know that:

• He was out there listening;

• If only the CFMEU could be removed from government projects, the roads and pot holes could all be fixed;

• There needed to be a “proper recovery” after the recent floods and fires, and that he was here to help;

• We need lower taxes;

• Women are really impacted by cost of living pressures, and;

• We need fewer immigrants “so Australians can get into housing”.

• “We've got to make sure we've got really good alternative policies so people know we're addressing them,” Tehan said. “It’s developing those alternative policies, so that people know we've got the answers and the solutions to the difficulties that they're facing.

“All these things are about to be fully articulated over the coming months, and [Taylor’s]  been very clear about that.”

Picking up the pieces: In the wake of the 2025 wipeout, Taylor faced internal criticism from colleagues who said he didn’t do his homework as Shadow Treasurer and present a coherent economic plan to the nation. The West Vic Brolga asked Tehan if those criticisms were justified.

“Angus has been very upfront in the last few days in saying that there were some mistakes made, but everyone makes mistakes, and the most important thing is you learn from those mistakes, and that's what he's been very clear about.

“The party has made a decision. They went with Angus and Jane. I congratulate them both, and I look forward to working with them both. They're both very good friends of mine.”