The Federal Member for Calare has admitted there will be "difficult times ahead" for the Nationals as the party leader said they need to re-engage with rural women and young people.
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During the recent election, the party held all its seats, but 11 of its 16 MPs suffered negative swings in their primary vote - and three of the MPs to see an uptick in primary votes saw a downturn in their two-party preferred vote, including newly appointed party leader David Littleproud.
"The Nationals did a lot better than our Coalition partners, but there are still some very big lessons for us that we need to listen to and learn from," Mr Littleproud said.
In the post-election dissection, Mr Littleproud said it was clear the party had to do a better job of reaching female voters.
"We need to make sure we engage with regional women and their aspirations, and articulate that," Mr Littleproud said.
"We also need to re-engage with young regional people and let them know we understand their dreams and goals."
Andrew Gee was one of the five Nationals MPs to receive an upward swing in their primary vote and said being in opposition presented new opportunities.
"The coalition took a range of policies for women and young people to the election including more affordable and accessible childcare and improved parental leave, payments to support apprentices, expanded training for school leavers and significant funding for mental health services for our youth," he said.
"Being in opposition is an opportunity to go back to the drawing board and draft up a new suite of policies that'll help Australians from all walks of life."
Mr Littleproud, who was elected to replace previous leader Barnaby Joyce after the election, conceded the party had to do things differently over the next three years "or we'll get the same result, if not worse."
Mr Gee said he believed Mr Littleproud had started the rebuilding process across a "range of issues."
"Part of the rebuilding process in opposition will be to have a look at all of our policies, evaluate what was effective, and come up with new and innovative policies that present an alternative to those offered by the government. David" Mr Gee said.
"There will be some difficult times ahead, and we'll need good policy to help get us through. For example, with prices and interest rates rising, I believe the economy will slow which will have major impacts across society, including for youth unemployment."
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