What went wrong for the Coalition's federal election campaign?

Sunday, 4 May 2025 21:10

For the Coalition, last night was calamitous. Today, it's looking for a new direction, and a new leader - all while sifting through the rubble of a chaotic campaign, and wondering where it all went so terribly wrong.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton took responsibility for a landslide loss and a generational wipeout of senior Liberals.

"There are good members, good candidates who have lost their seats or their ambition. And I'm sorry for that," he said last night.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton concedes defeat

Nationals leader David Littleproud said Labor won by "destroying Peter Dutton's character", making him unelectable "in his own electorate and across the country".

But Nine national affairs editor Andrew Probyn said while Dutton's unpopularity was a factor, so too was the Coalition's failure to construct a compelling case to change government despite voters being grumpy about cost of living pressures.

He pointed to its plan to stop public servants working from home, which was aborted early in the campaign and the pledge to slash 41,000 government workers.

The job cuts particularly seemed to be straight out of the playbook of US President Donald Trump, he said, an association not reduced by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's "make Australia great again" comment.

"Restoring a viable opposition will start with recognising what went wrong and it'll need a new leader who's prepared to take the party in a new direction," Probyn said.

"Among the contenders, Angus Taylor, Andrew Hastie, Sussan Ley and Dan Tehan."

ANALYSIS: Liberals need a new leader and a new direction, but path forward unclear

Former Coalition Minister Christopher Pyne called for his party to move back towards the centre.

Victorious Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC's Insiders that voters had rejected the Coalition's "backward-looking pessimism".

Nine political editor Charles Croucher said such a "seismic shift" required a lot of factors.

"Labor ran a very disciplined campaign, surprised the electorate with tax cuts and were brutally effective attacks on Peter Dutton," he said.

"For the coalition, the campaign was disastrous. Donald Trump's tariffs came at the worst possible time and the debate over nuclear power was lost.

"Each of those things are bad for the coalition but bad plus bad plus bad equals really bad for Peter Dutton."

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