There’s a reason the private sector doesn’t hire ‘career politicians’ – they’ve never shipped products, met payrolls, or prioritised outcomes over processes. Yet, these figures now dominate the Liberal Party, transforming it from the party of Menzies, McEwen, and Howard into a Canberra finishing school for ambitious apparatchiks.
A third of Liberal MPs in the 47th Parliament were former staffers or party officials, compared to over 50 per cent in Labor and about 20 per cent among Nationals. But excuses don’t reverse decline. In 2025, the Coalition collapsed to roughly 32 per cent of the primary vote – its lowest since 1943. Formerly safe Liberal seats like Berowra fell from 57 per cent in 2016 to 42 per cent in 2025. Such losses aren’t merely troubling; they’re existential.
How did this happen? Staffer culture.
Staffers (bureaucrats in sneakers) thrive on factional loyalty and procedural manoeuvres – not on creating industries, cutting debt, or solving housing affordability. Scott Morrison, a former tourism marketer turned political tactician, epitomised staffer ascendancy. Governing became perpetual campaigning. Morrison’s tenure delivered pandemic spending without productivity gains, ineffective climate policies, and damaging leadership absences. History judges leaders by the cultures they leave behind; Morrison left the Liberal Party perilously close to irrelevance.
Consider Julian Leeser, representative of Berowra. Polite and diligent, Leeser’s résumé reads like a staffer’s greatest hits: worked with the Howard team during the republic referendum, political adviser, think-tank fellow, policy insider. Yet it does not seem as if he has extensive experience managing a payroll or risking capital, and it shows electorally. His seat’s primary vote declined 15 percentage points since 2016. In business, such performance demands drastic change; in politics, Leeser thrives. Voters notice.
The broader fallout is Liberals have lost critical suburban voters, particularly among younger professionals and women. Each election shrinks the party, paradoxically increasing the ratio of former staffers who survive mainly in safer seats. The result: fewer candidates, less voter engagement, continued electoral losses – a staffer-driven death spiral.
Business leaders can’t wait passively for the electoral pendulum to swing. The Liberal Party no longer provides credible opposition. If centre-right business wants lower taxes, realistic energy policies, and genuine competitiveness, it must actively reclaim the party:
Tie donations to experience. Fund candidates who meet stringent CV criteria.
Require real-world experience. Mandate ten years in business, STEM, or frontline public service to enter pre-selection.
Join branches. Mobilise chamber-of-commerce networks, flood seats, and prioritise performance in pre-selections.
Publish MP performance dashboards publicly – attendance, constituency work, policy contributions.
Challenge dead wood openly. Publicly contest seats held by entrenched MPs, making competence central to the debate.
Policy expertise is necessary but should complement real-world business acumen, not dominate it. The Liberals must rebalance toward candidates who’ve tested ideas in the real world.
Success by 2028 would mean reclaiming suburban swing voters, re-establishing a robust primary vote above 40 per cent, and staffing Shadow Cabinets with members experienced in running sizable balance sheets.
To current staffers: politics isn’t your career entitlement. Prove your worth electorally or step aside. To business leaders: complaints about payroll tax or regulatory excess mean nothing if you surrender political influence to those who’ve never risked more than writing a press release. The next pre-selection round awaits. We must take action or watch business-orientated politics fall into irrelevance.
Henry Innis is a former member of the Sydney University Liberal Club and served on the executive committees of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation. Today he is co-founder and global CEO of Mutinex, an 80-person software scale-up headquartered in Sydney, with offices in Melbourne and New York City. Mutinex’s GrowthOS market-mix-modelling platform analyses billions in ad spend for brands.