John Howard downplays Liberal critics in Victoria

He told ABC that the founding principles of the coalition government were solid, citing the expanding economy and budget surplus, border protection and Labor Party plans to "ward off the fires of light." of the frugal middle clbad of Australia ".

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Speaking after former MP Julia Banks quit the Liberal Party sensational Tuesday, Howard warned that the party was likely to be divided by enemies inside and out. Who sought to "define us ideologically" as moderates and right-wing extremists.

"The only thing we must not do is allow our political enemies and our commentators to start describing people specifically as a clbadical liberal or conservative," he told the ABC. 730 program on Tuesday evening.

"Some people have fallen in love with it on both sides … you do not want anything of that."

Mr Howard hinted that the Victorian defeat was largely due to state problems and an impressive campaign from Mr Andrews, whom he hailed as an excellent communicator.

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He pointed to the losses of the Liberal Party in Queensland and Western Australia in 2001 before winning this year's federal election, as well as another in Queensland in 2004, before beating Mark Latham, the Labor Party, at the Federal Election.

Mr. Howard also said that the Liberal Party could not be too discouraged by its loss to Victoria, a center-left state that some have called "Mbadachusetts of Australia".

The state of Mbadachusetts in the northeastern United States, having voted democratically reliably, was the only state not to vote for Republican President Richard Nixon during the 1972 landslide.

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"The Liberal Party is clearly going through a difficult time, but I still believe we can win the next federal election," said Howard.

Asked about Ms. Banks' defection, Mr. Howard said that he had campaigned for her in 2016, when she had won the marginal siege of Chisholm and that Ms. Banks "owed a lot to the Liberal Party."

"It is always important for those elected to Parliament – on the Labor side or ours – to remember that they are in the majority because of the favoritism of their own party, and that they should never be Forget, "he said.