Members of both the Liberal and the National parties have called for the formation of a new conservative party in Australia.
While this may come as a surprise for many, political analysts say a new party is logical, but it will be tough to bring about and one party may not be enough to accommodate the divisions in conservative ranks.
Liberal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson raised the issue of merging the Liberal and National parties this week saying he is willing to put his leadership on the line for it.
"I think that merging with the National Party – that's the Liberal and the National parties coming together – makes eminent good sense," he told the ABC.
The Nationals, however, say a merger would be seen as a takeover and if there is to be a merger, it has to be a new party.
"A new party with a new name, where everybody feels they have equal ownership of it," Senator Barnaby Joyce told the ABC. "Not only will it attract those who were formerly in the National Party and the Liberal Party, but a whole range of other people who'd want to be part of it."
While much of the focus in the debate has been on the survival of the National Party, political analysts say it is conservative ranks generally and the Liberal Party, more specifically, that urgently need redefining.
They point to the 22 consecutive losses the Liberals have endured at the state level and the recent devastating loss at the Federal elections.
"The existing Liberal Party is in a parlous state," said Dr Ian Ward, lecturer in politics at the University of Queensland. "It is broke; it can't raise money. It has got no ministerial staff or very few subsidised resources because it is not in government anywhere.
"Its membership in the local branches is aged, worn out. It's got no motivation; its capacity to recruit new members is limited."
"The question is," said Dr Ward, "is there any organisational capacity in the [Liberal] Party to revive itself?"
Dr Norm Abjorensen, from the Australian National University, says the fact the Coalition is out of government at the state and Federal levels could be a "bit of a blessing in disguise".
A specialist in Australian politics and particularly the Liberal Party, Dr Abjorensen says there have long been rumblings of discontent within conservative ranks, but under former Coalition Prime Minister John Howard, differences were not allowed to surface. Now, with few restraints, they can go "back to the drawing board and try and find new ways of reaching a broader public".
"I think politics always has to move forward," he told The Epoch Times. "It's no good wallowing in the past."
The Liberal Party would have to look at new ways of doing things and new ways of reaching a "new constituency", he said. "I think that is a healthy sign for democracy."
Dr Abjorensen said formulating a new party would be a step in the right direction, but differences between small "l" liberals, like Marise Payne and Christopher Pyne, and more conservative members like Tony Abbot and Nick Minchin, might not be so easily accommodated by one conservative party.
"What sort of formula do you need to fit all these people happily into one party? Another set of policies in the electorate? We might see more than one party forming."
Dr Ward said another approach might be to adopt a Canadian model for dealing with different conservative agendas that sees different conservative parties at the state or provincial level to those at the national level.
While the National Party is relatively low in national appeal, it is strong in Queensland and dominant over the Liberals in that state. The Canadian model could address this issue quite effectively, Dr Ward said.
"We could see the emergence of a Queensland United Conservative Party, which is really only interested in winning power in Queensland, and that would sit alongside a Liberal/National Party only contesting Federal elections."
While the Coalition may well opt for a uniquely Queensland Conservative Party in the short term, sorting out conservative ranks on the Federal level will be a much tougher road.
Whether the conservatives try to build within the framework of the existing Coalition or whether they create a new party (or parties) combining members of both the National and the Liberal Party, the task will not be easy.
"Either of those options is difficult," he said. "There is no easy answer."
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