Federal election results 2025 LIVE updates: Wilson hails ‘truly incredible' Goldstein win; Tight race in key seats; PM to give Left an extra ministry

Sydney Morning Herald

07-05-2025

Key posts
1.13pm In pictures: Dutton lands in Canberra
12.59pm Peter Dutton arrives in Canberra after election loss
11.55am The state of play in Australia's undecided seats
11.41am 'Building future industrial base': Wilson doubles down on nuclear
11.30am 'Lot of work ahead' for Liberals, says Wilson
11.11am Wilson claims 'truly incredible' victory in Goldstein
10.49am Exclusive: Wilson hints at shadow ministry role as Goldstein win inches closer
10.21am Labor campaigning in Greens seats since 2023: Watt
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1.13pm
In pictures: Dutton lands in Canberra
Peter Dutton has just arrived in Canberra from Brisbane. Our photographer James Brickwood, who followed Dutton throughout the election campaign, snapped these first images after the former opposition leader's historic election loss.
12.59pm
Peter Dutton arrives in Canberra after election loss
By Paul Sakkal
Peter Dutton has just arrived at Canberra Airport to thank staff at his Canberra office.
The defeated leader said he did not want to commentate on his historic weekend loss when asked who should lead the party in his absence.
He said he would not become a commentator on politics and said he there were 'lots of opportunities' in his private life that he wanted to pursue.
'But most importantly I want to spend some time with family and friends,' he said.
Asked how he was feeling at a personal level, he said, 'I'm very good, thank you'.
'The easiest thing for former leaders to do is to maintain a graceful silence.'
Asked how the party will rebuild, he said this was up to his former colleagues.
Dutton flew into Canberra on a commercial Qantas Link flight from Brisbane. He flew alone, but his private staff met him at Canberra airport.
12.53pm
Wilson hints at economic ambitions in next term
By Daniel Lo Surdo
More from Wilson's press conference in which he claimed victory in Goldstein, and also shared some aspirations for the next parliamentary term.
Wilson said that the challenges Australians face have become 'more substantial' in recent years, and pledged to support policies that elevate employment and education opportunities over the next three years.
'It doesn't shock anybody that I have a deep interest in economic policy,' Wilson said.
'I look at the challenges this country faces right now and the scale and the sense of urgency, and nothing has changed. In fact, it's become more substantial … that sense of aspiration, that dream is at risk right now.'
Wilson has been backed by moderate Liberals to serve as shadow assistant treasurer in the next opposition ministry.
He previously served under Angus Taylor, a frontrunner for the Liberal Party leadership, as the assistant minister for industry, energy and emissions reductions within the Morrison government.
12.38pm
'Very strong campaign': Vic shadow treasurer praises Wilson
By Rachel Eddie
Victorian shadow treasurer James Newbury, whose state seat of Brighton falls within Goldstein, said Liberal colleague Tim Wilson, who claimed victory earlier today, had campaigned strongly for a year.
'I think that Tim and the local Liberal Party ran a wonderful campaign in our community – a very, very strong campaign,' Newbury said.
'Tim started a year out from the election and ran a very strong local campaign in our community.'
He said Wilson enjoyed massive community support, and Victorians and Australians expected candidates like him, who weren't out in their electorates just on election day.
12.16pm
In pictures: Tim Wilson claims victory in Goldstein
Liberal Tim Wilson has hailed a 'gravity-defyinig' victory over teal Zoe Daniel in the key Melbourne electorate of Goldstein. Our photographer Paul Jeffers snapped these images in Brighton.
11.55am
The state of play in Australia's undecided seats
By Shane Wright and Matt Wade
It's approaching lunchtime so it's time to do an update on the state of play of the undecided seats from Saturday's election.
And let's just say – nails will be nibbled down to the quick.
Fellow seat caller Matt Wade and I have just gone through all the close electorates to see how far away we are from determining a winner.
The most high-profile is the seat of Melbourne, where Greens' leader Adam Bandt is in a lot of trouble.
With just over a third of the vote counted to the two-party preferred level, Labor's Sarah Witty has a 1921 vote lead over Bandt.
A key issue will be how Witty and Bandt perform in some Liberal-leaning booths in the seat's east. If Bandt doesn't make ground there, it's all over.
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Bandt has also suffered from a particularly poor performance on postal votes, of which almost 18,000 were issued to Melbourne voters.
Of the 10,000 postals that have been counted, Bandt is getting about 27 per cent support. Among the votes cast on Saturday, his primary vote was more than 42 per cent.
Across other seats, expect a drawn-out slugfest in electorates such as Bullwinkel in WA, Monash and Bendigo in Victoria, Bradfield in NSW, and Longman and Ryan in Queensland.
Kooyong, where teal independent Monique Ryan is fighting to survive, is also likely to take days before a winner is clear.
11.41am
'Building future industrial base': Wilson doubles down on nuclear
By Daniel Lo Surdo
Wilson has reiterated his support for nuclear power hours after a party room colleague broke ranks to urge the Liberals to ditch the controversial policy.
Wilson said he believed in nuclear power 'not as an end, but as a beginning'.
'Nuclear power is part of building the future industrial base of our country,' Wilson said.
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'If we don't do that, then we are saying either we're going back to coal, or we as a nation are going to deindustrialise. That is not a future I'm prepared to accept. '
In an interview with this masthead, Liberal senator Maria Kovacic earlier shared her preference to scrap the nuclear plan in favour of renewable energy investment. She said she thought the Australian people had rejected Coalition's energy policy at the polls on Saturday.
Kovacic's comments are the first public rejection of the Coalition's nuclear plan by a member of the federal party room.
11.30am
'Lot of work ahead' for Liberals, says Wilson
By Daniel Lo Surdo
Returning to Liberal Tim Wilson, who claimed victory in the seat of Goldstein this morning, after he usurped teal incumbent Zoe Daniel as postal votes were counted in the key Melbourne electorate.
Wilson conceded there was a 'lot of work ahead' for a downtrodden Liberal Party, but shared optimism for its future.
'We very much built [our campaign] from the bottom up, and I think there are a lot of lessons for the recovering Liberal Party about how it wants to take on the future of the country,' Wilson said.
'Three years ago we were written off here. We went back to the ground. We listened, we heard the messages from the community. We were honest with ourselves enough to learn and grow. We looked at what it is we needed to build and to appeal to people's aspiration for the future of this country. We are an example of what could be done.'
Wilson held Goldstein from 2016 to 2022, before losing the seat to Daniel.
11.29am
Laura Tingle to leave 7.30 for global ABC role
Laura Tingle has been appointed the ABC's global affairs editor, one of its most senior reporting roles, until recently occupied by John Lyons.
This means she will leave her current position as political editor of flagship current affairs program 7.30, which she has held since 2018.
Tingle is also the ABC's staff-elected board director. Her position as a board director will remain unchanged.
Before joining the ABC, she held reporting roles at The Australian Financial Review, The Australian, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, winning two Walkley awards.
The global affairs editor leads the ABC's international coverage, with reporting and analysis of major world events.
'I'm exceptionally excited to have the opportunity to use my experience to report back to Australians on the big events around the world that also shape our nation,' Tingle said.
11.11am
Wilson claims 'truly incredible' victory in Goldstein
By Daniel Lo Surdo
Staying with Wilson, who has c laimed victory in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein, toppling one-term teal incumbent Zoe Daniel after she defeated Wilson in 2022.
Daniel had initially claimed victory on election night before the flow of postal votes dramatically veered towards Wilson, putting the Liberal candidate, who had held Goldstein from 2016 to 2022, in pole position to win the seat.
'We have won,' Wilson said.
'We have done something truly incredible … we had to defy political gravity to get here.'