Dutton lost his seat. His colleagues were talking about his leadership before a vote was counted

The Age

03-05-2025

But by 8.30pm, the need for a new leader was clear, and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said his colleagues had gotten ahead of themselves.
'There's only been one one-term government in the history of Australia ... And what I never wanted to do, and what I'd say to my colleagues, is don't overbid on what you're saying when you go in,' he said.
Liberal National Party senator James McGrath said he would not examine the Coalition's loss so early, but it was clear there must be a 'serious, considered look at the party and how we need to grow'.
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'It is not a good night for us. There will be a lot of soul-searching in the party as to how we take the party forward and what we need to do to make sure we are an election-winning force,' he said.
Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price downplayed her own role in the Coalition's defeat – having generated headlines with a Trump-esque pledge to 'make Australia great again' – but conceded it was a tough ask to unseat a first-term prime minister.
'There's a lot that we're going to have to consider going forward, and regrouping as the Coalition, in terms of the approach we take in three years' time. And considering where we went wrong this time around,' she said.
'Certainly we could have provided our policies sooner to the Australian people ... We could have called out [Albanese's] lies earlier on in the piece.'
Finance spokeswoman Jane Hume conceded the Coalition had campaigned in ways 'that we will never do again' but slammed Labor's negative scare campaign that claimed Dutton would cut Medicare to pay for a $600 billion nuclear power policy.
'It was so disappointing to take part in an election where there were so many lies told.'
But Hume said her first act on Sunday would be to go through the Coalition's review of its 2022 loss, which she co-authored. 'Because there are some similarities I can see,' she said.
'There is an extraordinary amount of work we need to do, there is no doubt about that. Turning a party around is not an easy thing to do. We will need to start from scratch with great candidates, great policies.'
Groups on the left and right of the party had been quietly considering leadership scenarios for weeks, according to factional sources on both sides of the party. Coalition MPs believed Dutton required a five-to-10-seat haul to remain leader.
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While Dutton lost his seat, Hastie was recording a more than 7 per cent swing towards him in Canning.
Taylor, Ley and Tehan all retained their seats without losing significant ground to Labor.
Tehan, when asked on Saturday night if he would run to lead the party after successfully fighting off a well-funded challenge by independent candidate Alex Dyson, said: 'I haven't had any time to think about the future'.
Hume, seen by other moderates as a future deputy leader, began contacting colleagues in NSW, Victoria and South Australia on Friday, asking for face-to-face meetings or phone calls for Sunday morning.
Hume has a close relationship with Taylor, who has been talked about as a potential replacement for Dutton. Hume does not currently hold a leadership position in the Senate, but is a shadow cabinet member.
Taylor's path to leadership is complicated by the NSW moderate grouping, which would support Ley, Tehan or Hastie over Taylor, who is one of the leaders of the NSW right.
The moderates do not have a clear leadership option in the lower house, where party leaders must sit, making Hume an option as deputy to any future leader, although her comments this week on Chinese spies have lowered her prospects.
The NSW moderates have been loyal to Dutton and were only set to change leaders if the Coalition had a disastrous result. Taylor was contacted for comment.
Hastie and Taylor are from the right, but it is not clear if Hastie is keen to run. Ley is supported by the small centre-right faction associated with Alex Hawke, while Tehan is a Victorian who does not neatly fit with any group and is battling to keep his seat of Wannon.
Out-of-field leadership options include NSW MP Julian Leeser, who was the shadow attorney-general before quitting over the Voice to parliament and energy spokesman Ted O'Brien. Sukkar was also on track to lose his seat to Labor in Melbourne.