Bridget Archer had bucked the trend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Not only had she become the first incumbent to be reelected in Bass since 2001, but she was one of the Liberal Party's few genuine winners from a bruising May election.
With the dust settled, the party's leadership in place and Labor setting its own agenda in government, Ms Archer finds herself in a completely new situation - life on the opposition backbench.
But far from being dejected and frustrated, she sees hope from the recent election - not only for Australian politics and government, but for her own party as well.
So what direction should the Liberals take? Should it go back to the aggressive Tony Abbott-style opposition of the past under its equally divisive new leader Peter Dutton, or look closely at how voters abandoned them for the teal independents in affluent inner-city areas and appeal to the centre?
For Ms Archer, the best option is the latter.
And if the Liberals don't learn these lessons, she fears they will be set for years in the political wilderness.
What lessons should the Liberals learn from the election?
One of the many stories of the election was the success of independents running on platforms of greater action on climate change and tackling corruption in federal politics.
It places Ms Archer in an interesting position.
She had crossed the floor to vote to bring on a debate on the long-awaited and promised integrity commission and was, on other issues, the very definition of the "small L" Liberal in the partyroom.
She had quickly risen to become one of the key moderates. Her positioning on issues was largely aligned with the teal independents, and it came to pass that she grew her margin in a highly volatile electorate.
Ms Archer said it proved to her that the answer to electoral success lay at the centre of politics.
"If you want to talk about electoral success, then you look to history. Elections are predominantly won in Australia and governments formed at the centre," she said.
"That's probably true of the independents that have been elected. I would position them at the centre They are centrists.
"The lessons for the future sometimes are the lessons from the past, and for the Liberal Party my very strong view is that it has always been that we need to find our way back to those values, to the values of the Liberal Party, which really sit at the centre.
"Until we do that, then it will be difficult."
Yet it could be unreasonable to expect a party led by Mr Dutton and with other firm right-wing members in leadership positions, like shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, would offer the kind of centrism Ms Archer prefers.
But she believes there are strong moderate numbers in the party. They would just need to find their voice to steer the party in other directions.
"One of the lessons that I see to come out of this is that, in terms of our party and some of the more moderate voices in our party, they do maybe not make as much noise about some of those things as they need to," Ms Archer said.
"My view is that over the last couple of years, what I see is a certain kind of politeness from some of my more moderate colleagues, but the vacuum is then filled by louder more divisive voices."
Is Peter Dutton the right man to unite a fractured party?
With the loss of senior party figures left, right and centre, Mr Dutton was effectively the last man standing.
Can he bring the Liberal Party back to the Australian centre, to the mainstream? Ms Archer said he should be given a chance.
"Obviously, it remains to be seen," she said.
"You've got to give people the opportunity, the chance, he hasn't had that opportunity before and he does now."
One of the more jarring experiences for Ms Archer during her first term was the sheer tribalism of politics, the "us versus them" attitude that extended across the aisle.
She believed it played a key role in the reduction in the overall major party vote. The election could be a chance to reset the conversation, but is Mr Dutton the right man to do that?
"I hope so, because I think we are seeing a period of disruption - for want of a better word - in Australian politics. I mean that not in a negative way, but just we are seeing this period of change," Ms Archer said.
"But it remains to be seen whether it's an enduring change or a reaction to that tribal politics that I've seen."
The party will go through a review that could reveal uncomfortable truths, much like Labor's process following its defeat under Bill Shorten.
While saying she was disappointed that she missed out on a shadow cabinet position - even a junior role - she argued it was for others to decide whether that was a missed opportunity for the party to elevate a successful moderate voice.
Various prominent Liberal voices - including outgoing Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz - have urged the party to appeal to further right-wing voters to find electoral success.
Ms Archer said this would be a mistake, pointing to the way in which independents appeared did not appear to win votes from the right.
"Whoever is in that leadership team, if they're not learning those lessons, then I can't imagine anything is going to change," she said.
Independents rise up, will Bridget Archer join them?
Far from decrying the rise of independents as the death knell for stable government in Australia, Ms Archer sees positives.
"I'm pretty open minded about it. I think independents are an important part of democracy as well," she said.
Yet it came at the expense of her own party.
"Where the erosion of the two-party system has occurred, it's at the edge of the Liberal Party," Ms Archer said.
"All of the independents that have been elected have been elected by people who would have perhaps once voted for the Liberal Party.
"They're not looking for a Labor alternative, they're looking for something that represents those 'small L' liberal values, I would argue."
It raises an obvious question. If independents enjoyed electoral success on similar issues that she has sought to advocate on, and if her party continues it's attempt to right-wing voters, will she join them?
Ms Archer said it was not that simple.
"For me, that comes down to: what would I do differently if I was an independent?" she said.
"When I ask myself that question, the answer is nothing. There is nothing that I would do differently if I sat on the crossbench to what I do now."
While she might disagree with her parliamentary colleagues in the partyroom - or argue against her own party's policies at times - she sees it as her duty to fight to bring the Liberals back to its Menzies roots.
This she does on behalf of both the local party members who endorsed her and backed her in, and the voters of Bass who elected her as a Liberal MP - not as an independent.
"The first time I thought I don't agree with that position and I'm going to have to make another decision, that was very hard. It was hard each time, but it became easier when I realised that that's your job, that's what's expected of you, that your loyalty must lie first with the people that have elected you," Ms Archer said.
"There's also, for me, elements of loyalty ... when we talk about the Liberal Party or the Labor Party, we tend to focus on the parliamentary party and the people that sit in Canberra - that's not where my loyalty lies.
"When I talk about the Liberal Party, I'm talking about the hundreds of volunteers who stood on polling booths for me a couple of weeks ago."
In the last parliament, with the Coalition holding on by just one vote, she had the ability to make a difference by crossing the floor. This time, her vote does not carry the same weight with Labor commanding a comfortable lower house majority.
Yet Ms Archer argues she can still make a difference.
What's to gain for Bass with an MP in opposition?
A gentler, more collaborative form of politics could have other benefits for Ms Archer.
Having Labor more comfortable to discuss issues with opposition MPs would ensure Bass still has a strong voice. So there's a few things Ms Archer wants to be involved in over the next three years.
"[Labor have] made some noises about universal childcare, but effectively are still really looking at cheaper childcare, which is not the same thing. I've got a whole range of concerns but also I think that we're maybe not looking at the problem in the right way," she said.
"We make childcare cheaper, it further puts the viability of the sector under pressure. The sector is competing with the schools for staff and they get paid more in the school system.
"The other one I'm particularly interested in is Labor's announcement around urgent care clinics for Tasmania.
"The amount of money concerned just doesn't really seem enough to do anything in the longer term."
Ms Archer said she would be taking an approach of opposition for opposition's sake. She wanted to make sure local GPs, teachers, early childhood workers and all others had their voices heard when major policy is developed.
"There's been a lot of promises and commitments made, and it's not unusual to hear an opposition MP say I want to hold the government to account. Well I do want to hold the government to account, but actually more than holding the government to account, I actually want to work together in the Australian Parliament to get some good outcomes for the country," she said.
"Even from opposition, it's still my job to say, 'how is this going to work in practice here?'"
One way of ensuring Northern Tasmania's interests remain front and centre despite having members in opposition in both Bass and Braddon could be via Franklin Labor MHR Julie Collins, the new Housing Minister.
Ms Archer said Ms Collins' "broad knowledge" should be of benefit for the state.
The politics of Bass will surely reemerge in three years
It was fair to say Ms Archer enjoyed strong personal popularity in Bass, but that's just one aspect of electoral success.
She only held the seat by 1.4 per cent two-party preferred, keeping it as one of the Liberal's most marginal electorates. Her success was based on holding onto the votes in lower-socioeconomic areas that she won in 2019, while boosting her margin around her home area of George Town with incremental improvements elsewhere.
Ms Archer endured a tough campaign. She believes the Australian Christian Lobby's push against her may have swayed a few votes, but it was Labor's attempt to bind her to the side of unpopular former prime minister Scott Morrison that may have prevented her from getting a bigger margin.
In one advertisement, her face literally morphed into Mr Morrison's.
"Labor's entire election strategy in Bass seemed to be focused on trying to attach me to Morrison, as opposed to promoting their own candidate who I think kept a very low target," Ms Archer said.
"People have said to me, I appreciated the work you did, I think you're a good local member, but I couldn't vote for you because I just didn't want another three years of Scott Morrison."
She has not regrets from the campaign, or from her three years in parliament.
Ms Archer believes taking the same approach will ensure she can keep her head held high.
"It's our role to listen to the people in our communities and to take those views to Canberra, rather than taking those Canberra policies and trying to just inflict them on our local communities," she said.
"There's certainly no doubt in my mind that for me personally probably some of the decisions or the positions that I took during the last parliament maybe reinforced that view to my community that I'm prepared to put their interests above those of the party."
Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner