Speaking in Washington, former prime minister and new party president Tony Abbott said he thought the Liberal Party had “quite a long way to go” if the polls are to be believed.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott will mount a national roadshow in a bid to rebuild support for his party in the face of One Nation’s dramatic rise.

Liberals and Nationals grappling with surging support for Pauline Hanson’s party, which threatens to replace them as Australia’s main conservative party

Speaking in Washington, former prime minister and new party president Tony Abbott said he thought the Liberal Party had “quite a long way to go” if the polls are to be believed.

The Liberal Party president criticised a “laissez-faire” approach to multiculturalism, saying it had let some maintain “their old thinking and their old identity”.