The Liberal Party has turned to an experienced Coalition operator to run its national campaign machine, as the party grapples with warnings of generational decline, shrinking loyalty and a rising challenge from minor parties.
In a statement on Friday evening, newly elected federal Liberal president Tony Abbott confirmed the party’s federal executive had signed off on the appointment of Lincoln Folo, the current federal director of the Nationals and a former Queensland LNP campaign director, as the Liberals’ federal director.
Abbott said the party, which was relegated to just 27 lower house seats at the last federal election, needed urgent organisational renewal.
“Australia is drifting backwards and our party is under challenge,” he said. “Hence the need to rebuild trust with the Australian people, with a strong federal secretariat working intimately with the federal leadership and the state divisions.”
He said Folo, who has run the Nationals since 2022, brought broad campaign experience across Coalition structures and had earned a strong reputation as a “capable and effective operator”. Folo was committed to the “values and principles that have long underpinned the party”, Abbott said.
Abbott described the role of federal director as central to electoral competitiveness and one that was “ready to support our parliamentary team as we hold the Albanese government to account and present a credible alternative government to the Australian people”.
He also paid tribute to outgoing director Andrew Hirst, his former press secretary as prime minister, after nine years in the job.
“The Liberal Party has been through challenging times before, and will come through these too, with strong leadership, clear principles and a renewed sense of purpose,” Abbott said.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said Folo was a highly respected and capable leader who brought extensive experience and sound judgment, and whose appointment came at an important time.
Folo’s appointment lands against a backdrop of blunt internal warnings from Hirst about the party’s future electoral base.
Addressing the Liberal federal council in Melbourne last week in his final speech as director, Hirst warned the party was losing long-term voter loyalty and failing to connect with younger Australians.
“More and more voters are making decisions election by election, issue by issue,” Hirst said last Saturday.
He said the era of lifelong party allegiance was fading, as data shows that since 2010 the proportion of Australians identifying as lifelong major-party voters had halved.
Inside the Liberal Party, Hirst pointed to a stark demographic imbalance, with more than 55 per cent of members aged over 60 and less than 10 per cent aged between 16 and 30.
Hirst warned the party’s younger ranks were not only small but skewed heavily male, which raised concerns about its broader social reach.
“Political parties cannot remain strong if they become disconnected from the broader community they seek to represent,” he said.
Rob Harris is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former Europe correspondent.Connect via email.