As the Liberal party’s key demographic shuffles off, how can Sussan Ley appeal to Australia’s younger voters?

Liberal campaigners say the party lost the social media battle and failed to reach young voters during the May election campaign. Composite: Guardian Design/Flickr Vision

Three months after the Liberal party’s federal electoral drubbing, Sussan Ley met a group of New South Wales candidates at an intimate gathering in Penrith, in Sydney’s west, to thank them for running.

At the dinner, attended by about 20 candidates, several told the new leader the party had lost the social media battle during the election campaign. Labor were quicker, savvier, and used more AI to generate content, they told Ley, recounting the event on condition of anonymity.