Queensland shows what happens when liberals desert the Liberal party

Liberal National MP Trevor Evans, whose views on social issues are relatively progressive, is at risk of losing his seat of Brisbane in the Australian federal election. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

The New South Wales treasurer Matt Kean’s warning that the loss of moderate MPs would leave the Liberal party at risk of a Trump-like lurch to the right was not exactly a compelling election pitch for the federal Coalition.

But Kean is right about what happens to conservative politics when true moderate voices are crowded out. He doesn’t need to look all the way to the US for a case study – just north of the border.