Moderate MP pleas for Liberals to reclaim 'vast middle'

Mr Leeser pointed to the three key areas identified in a postmortem of the party's election defeat: women, multicultural communities and young people. 

"Let's slice and dice that statement another way: women - 52 per cent of the Australian population; multicultural Australia - 27 per cent of the Australian population is born overseas; and young people - 45 per cent aged under 35," he said in a speech on Tuesday.

"Our pathway back to government is only through and with the vast middle (and) to get that group to join our party requires us to change.

"Making our party more accessible to and representative of women, multicultural groups and young people is about being more representative of the aspirations of the vast middle."

Mr Leeser said the Liberals needed to better respect different opinions as conservative members argue it should move more to the right in order to reclaim government.

He said middle Australia is not represented when "the major political debates are dominated by the fringes" and called out the "scourge of factionalism".

"Our future is not in American glitz and red Trumpian hats or a political diet of anger," he said, also calling out culture wars being pursued through the media.

"It is found in serving the decent aspirations of Australians and ... in the breadth of our national life and not in the political culture of dividing it."

He said the party needed to focus on its core values of freedom, faith and individual dignity and responsibility.

Mr Leeser also called for the party to develop and prosecute a strong economic plan ahead of the next election, due by May 2025, as he targeted the Albanese government over cost of living pressures.

"I'm not talking about small measures that only alleviate the symptoms of inflation, productivity and wage stagnation but serious policies that deal with the causes," he said.

"Australians expect from us nothing less than a serious economic plan."