Tehan reflects on election result, but looking to the future

While the ballot count for his own seat hung in the balance, the nationwide vote was decisive. The Coalition was out, and so was the erstwhile Minister for Trade.

"You get given literally three days to get out of your ministerial office, so I had to get on the road," Mr Tehan said.

"It's very humbling. When you do it you realise you well and truly have lost the election and a new government is coming in to take over the reins."

Mr Tehan would usually make the journey by plane, but he said a single packing box wouldn't have sufficed.

"I needed quite a few boxes," he laughed. "You accumulate a lot of stuff over the journey."

Trade was only the latest in a series of ministerial portfolios Mr Tehan had held since 2016, starting with defence personnel, veterans affairs and cyber-security, before entering cabinet in December 2017 as Minister for Social Services, then moving to education in August 2018 before his final appointment to trade in December 2020.

"I've been lucky that every portfolio I've had has been interesting and challenging," Mr Tehan said.

He said delivering the dawn service address in Gallipoli for the centenary of ANZAC was one memory he would cherish, as was making veterans' mental health services free for the first time.

During his eight months in charge of social services Mr Tehan rolled out the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

"I still keep in touch with some of the locals I met through that process," he said.

Education Minister was perhaps Mr Tehan's most controversial tenure, developing the federal government response to the COVID-driven decimation of Australia's universities.

The government froze the tertiary sector out of the Jobkeeper program that kept many other industries afloat through the pandemic, with Australian National University higher education expert Andrew Norton estimating 27,000 people lost their jobs.

Mr Tehan said people were too quick to focus on the Jobkeeper exclusion and forgot the support the universities did get.

"What they got was their income underwritten for 2020, so their proposed domestic enrolments were guaranteed federal funding," he said.

"We had the discussions that you couldn't have that and Jobkeeper, it was one or the other, and that was what they chose. I still have vice chancellors thanking me for that."

He said aside from the massive job losses, university "balance sheets (were) strong and they (had) really come through the pandemic incredibly well".

Mr Tehan said his final posting - trade - had been a chance to "set up rural and regional Australia for the future".

He signed free trade agreements with the UK and New Zealand, eliminating cross-Tasman tariffs for everything from beef and dairy to rice, grain and sugar. But he said the most important deal had been the one signed with India just a month before the election.

"The agreement with India taps us into potentially the most significant economy we will have access to in coming years, as well as an incredibly important geostrategic partner going forward," Mr Tehan said.

That was his last major move as minister before the May 21 rout. While the Coalition was convincingly beaten, Mr Tehan managed to hold Wannon 54 to 46 over independent challenger Alex Dyson, although his 10.5 point margin from 2019 has been slashed to under 4 per cent.

Asked whether there were lessons to be drawn from the success of independents in 2022, Mr Tehan focused on the collapse of Wannon's Labor primary vote, which crashed below 20 per cent for the first time ever.

He said he thought "teal" independent candidates benefited from having similar policy priorities to Labor and The Greens, claiming they "worked together" against the Coalition. But Mr Tehan conceded the left-of-centre parties were also able to rally around community frustration towards the government.

"I think obviously they were listening to issues voters had," he said, while arguing some of the community frustration could be attributed to a government failure to show voters the Coalition's positive achievements.

"I think we need to not lose sight of what we've done as a government over the past nine years, but at the same time there were reasons we we voted out of office.

"We need to quietly assess those and seek to address them, but the Australian people don't want the Liberal Party focusing on itself. That's the surest way for us to lose the next election."

Mr Tehan said the first step for the Liberals was to assess the damage done to their electoral ranks.

"There was a loss of talent right across the board on our side, both on the moderate and conservative ends."

He said the party needed to get back to its Menzian roots.

"One of the most reassuring things for me has been Peter (Dutton's) focus on making sure to send a clear message that we're not a moderate party and we're not a conservative party, we are the Liberal Party, we are a broad church," he said.

A key part of that pivot will be to soften Mr Dutton's right-wing image. Despite his own much more moderate reputation, Mr Tehan said he hadn't been tempted to stand.

"My one great ambition has always been to represent what I think is the most wonderful electorate in Australia. I was touched by the number of people who reached out to say I should consider sticking my hand up for the leadership," he said.

"Ultimately I decided not to, because it wasn't the right time."

He said being in opposition would be a change, but required similar skills to government.

"It's about listening to your local community, understanding their concerns, knowing which policies are working and which aren't, and feeding that back."

"I want to make sure that next election I'll be in a good position to say to the voters of Wannon that we need a change of government."