The party held all its seats, but 11 of its 16 MPs suffered negative swings in their primary vote - and three of the MPs to see an uptick in primary votes saw a downturn in their two-party preferred vote, including Mr Littleproud.

"The Nationals did a lot better than our Coalition partners, but there are still some very big lessons for us that we need to listen to and learn from," Mr Littleproud said.

In the post-election dissection, Mr Littleproud said it was clear the party had to do a better job of reaching female voters.

"We need to make sure we engage with regional women and their aspirations, and articulate that," Mr Littleproud said.

"We also need to re-engage with young regional people and let them know we understand their dreams and goals."

Mr Littleproud, who was elected to replace previous leader Barnaby Joyce after the election, conceded the party had to do things differently over the next three years "or we'll get the same result, if not worse".

"We've got to make sure our policy settings are right to do that," he said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Mr Littleproud's promise to re-engaged with disaffected female and young Nationals voters is an early indication the new leader plans to do things differently to his predecessor.

When Mr Joyce was previously questioned about his "women problem", he dismissed the question by replying there were plenty of men that didn't like him as well.

A recent study by the Australian National University found Mr Joyce, along with former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, were historically unpopular.

A survey of more than 3500 voters before and after the May election, found Mr Joyce was the most unpopular Nationals leader since 1987, with a rating of three out of 10, and was also the most unpopular of all the 2022 leaders within their own party's supporters, rating just five out of 10 among Nationals voters.