The Liberal Party's loss in Aston shows Victorians will not support a nasty, bigoted and self-centred approach to politics, the Victorian premier says.
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Labor's Mary Doyle won the federal seat in Melbourne's east on Saturday in a by-election triggered by the retirement of Liberal MP Alan Tudge.
Ms Doyle's victory means the Liberals only hold two federal seats in the Greater Melbourne area.
Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians have shown they will not support a party that is only worried about itself.
"The Liberal Party are a nasty, bigoted outfit and people have worked them out. That might be why they keep losing," he told reporters on Sunday.
"They want politicians who are focused on the cost of living ... not people who are bitterly divided and take their narrow, nasty brand of politics and try to dress that up as a national agenda."
Federal Liberal Leader Peter Dutton on Sunday argued Melbourne seats have always been difficult to win, noting there were also "huge issues" within the Victorian Liberal Party.
Mr Andrews criticised Mr Dutton's leadership, saying he was quick to blame his state counterparts for the Aston loss.
"I think people in Victoria, or at least in Aston, have passed judgement on his leadership and what he offers," the premier said.
"Of course he blamed the state division. And if he won, it would have been all about him wouldn't it? People see through this as well."
Victorian Liberal Leader John Pesutto said Aston was a federal by-election and voters did not raise concerns about the Victorian Liberals.
He said the Aston result highlighted the need to reform the party as a whole.
"The recovery of the Liberal Party not just in Victoria but nationally at a federal level and nationally in other states depends on us all working together," Mr Pesutto told reporters on Sunday.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said Ms Doyle's victory showed more about federal Labor.
"This is a mid-term endorsement from the voters of Aston that the Albanese government, with its common sense approach to problem solving, is achieving results across the country," Mr Minns told reporters on Sunday.
"I think they want to see more of it."
Australian Associated Press
