After Aston, Liberal moderates can hear the bell toll. But is Peter Dutton listening? | Paul Karp

While gains in suburban marginals such as Longman and Lindsay helped the Coalition stay in power in 2019, the next election delivered an inner-city bloodbath. There were six losses to teal independents, two to the Greens in Brisbane, and a swag more to Labor in Western Australia, Bennelong and Higgins.

Then came another Victorian election wipeout, the New South Wales loss, and Aston.

But to ignore the broader decline in metro areas and treat Aston as an anomaly would be disastrous.

So which view does the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, subscribe to?

Contrast this with a significant thing the Albanese government did this week: promise more funding to national collecting institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia.

This is the sort of thing that could be passed off as an inner-city concern; one for latte-sipping, art gallery-attending sophisticates.

But the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the arts minister, Tony Burke, framed the spending as an investment in national pride.

These were arguments that were perfectly crafted for middle-of-the road voters. The sort of pitch that would stand up just as well in the front bar of a regional pub as it would at a wine and cheese night at an urban gallery.

The Albanese government is speaking to all Australians even as it enacts progressive policies, while the Liberal party is ignoring its most compelling internal voices of dissent who are urging it not to drive off the electoral cliff.