‘Yeah, nah’: why the Victorian Liberal party has taken an unusual step in the search for future MPs

The state opposition is changing tack in a bid to attract stronger candidates for high stakes seats and avoid an election catastrophe

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When the Victorian Liberal party’s state executive met last Thursday, just days before preselections closed in seats held by four retiring MPs, they looked at the list of candidates before them, underwhelmed.

“The view was, ‘yeah, nah’,” said one Liberal source, who requested anonymity to discuss internal party matters.

Benita Kolovos is Guardian Australia’s Victorian state correspondent