Defeated MPs cast blame; Angus Taylor joins Liberal leadership race; Nicolas Cage v Nick Cave

Good afternoon. As defeated MPs continue to look for reasons they lost their seats, there has been a lot of blame to go around and a lot of leadership talk.

James Paterson has pointed to the “Trump effect” for the Liberals’ historic defeat, and Adam Bandt has singled out a boundary move, preference deals and a dip in the primary vote.

Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor are both in the running for the Liberal leadership, while Dan Tehan has ruled himself out of the race.

“Loyalty is a rare commodity in politics, but it’s an essential one and, out in the bush, it’s worth everything.”

The fallout from Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s decision to defect from the Nationals party room to the Liberals continued, with the Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie calling the move “disappointing”.

Shemara Wikramanayake’s annual pay packet, which is tightly linked to Macquarie Group’s profits, comfortably makes her one of Australia’s highest-paid executives.

You can check how much more CEOs earn than average workers in this interactive Guardian Australia published last year.

As psycho-thriller The Surfer is released, Nicolas Cage talks about eating rats, loving pickled eggs and how not a day goes by that he is “not mistaken for Nick Cave”.

Today’s starter word is: ERN. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

Enjoying the Afternoon Update? Then you’ll love our Morning Mail newsletter. Sign up here to start the day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know, and complete your daily news roundup.

And follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.