The state Liberal party are doing a lot of soul-searching this week following their decimation in the Wagga Wagga by-election.

The party lost their seat by a swing of almost 30 per cent.

Deputy premier John Barilaro is blaming the Wagga Wagga loss on politicians being “out of touch”.

He suggests female ministers should “start wearing jeans” and male ministers need to ditch their “$700 suits”.

Senior Liberal minister and regional MP, Andrew Constance, tells Ben Fordham he thinks “the point that the deputy premier is making is right”.

“People in the bush, particularly, want to see hard working MPs. They want their values reflected. They want connections.

“They don’t want their rights trampled on and they want… government off their backs.”

When facing questions around why they saw such a large swing against the Liberal government, Mr Constance says “given the circumstances, if you’ve got someone with self-interest ahead of community interest as Daryl Maguire did, is it any wonder that the community reacted and responded with the message that they’ve sent to all tiers of government?”

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