The Liberal Party’s brand has become so toxic for young people that joining the Melbourne University Liberal Club is considered “social suicide”, club members admit.

On Friday, the club, which is nearly two decades older than the party, will celebrate its centenary with a gala dinner at the State Library, to be attended to by club and party luminaries from the past six decades.

Despite an increase in club membership over the past five years – there are now 174 members – failures by the party have made the term “Liberal” so unpalatable, it’s driving away potential new members, club president Kai Bowie said.

“There are a great deal many students at University of Melbourne who are interested in what we do at the club … they say, ‘We like what you do and we might even, to a point, have a ce

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