Defeat in the Aston by-election in Melbourne this month was a bitter blow for the Liberals.

Victorian party leader, John Pesutto, said: ‘If we are to restore our standing … we have to demonstrate that we are committed to being an inclusive, welcoming and engaging party.’

He could have said that ‘to restore our standing, we have to demonstrate clear policy directions, something we have done badly in recent years’.

And added that ‘on energy policy, I am partly to blame, having failed at the November 2022 state election to differentiate the Liberals from Labor, the Teals, or the Greens’.

But he did not...