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ABC News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Ken Wyatt warns Liberals must change after election loss or risk becoming 'lesser party'
A former Liberal elder who spectacularly quit the party after leaving federal parliament has lashed his previous colleagues, urging them to "wake up" and become more inclusive in the wake of another bruising election result. Ken Wyatt was Indigenous Australians minister between 2019 and 2022 in the Morrison government but lost his seat of Hasluck at the last federal election. He His former party continues to struggle in the west, having recorded its three worst election results at the last three state polls and losing five seats over the last two federal elections. Photo shows peter dutton jacob greber piece The Liberal Party has been told it has a women problem for years now, but you only have to look at its WA results to see how it's still struggling to change, writes Keane Bourke. Mr Wyatt said he believed the party's issues ran so deep that WA Premier Roger Cook could serve another two terms. "Because once you lost people, particularly in the primary vote area, that's hard to recover," he told the ABC. "And we have lost women by the score, and to recover from that means that you have to be genuine in being inclusive and a broad church. "You have to act and do a better task of being inclusive and involving what is the diversity of this nation." Women not 'sandwich makers': Wyatt Another post-election review would be "redundant" in Mr Wyatt's view because similar recommendations have already been made by multiple previous poll post-mortems. it's been two years since the WA Liberals launched their 'Blueprint 2025' to improve future campaigns. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) He said the way forward was to reach out to the community to understand a wider range of views and tap prospective candidates on the shoulder rather than expecting them to self-nominate. "What I would do if I was the Liberal Party now is I'd hold a series of round table forums with select groups that reflect our community and seek their input as to what they should change and how they would be more appealable," he said. "If they don't engage then you're not going to change. "The reality is wake up, start becoming inclusive." Election fallout and analysis: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on He echoed comments by one of his former cabinet colleagues, Photo shows Former Liberal Senator and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds speaks about the Liberals 2025 federal election defeat Retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds labels the party's federal election campaign a "comprehensive failure", and blasts it for not doing more to increase female representation. "I have seen it in my party when I was a member, women offering ideas but the ideas not being accepted," Mr Wyatt said. "But then later, that same idea being offered up by a male and being accepted. "We cannot do that. They are not sandwich makers. They are equal leaders." The party stalwart said while that progress would rely on party members realising the need for change, the alternative was the Liberals becoming "a lesser party in the long-term". Bullwinkel, Fremantle still undecided Mr Wyatt's comments come as a nervous wait for the party continues in Bullwinkel, the only seat it is hoping to pick up in WA. The two-candidate-preferred count has Labor's Trish Cook narrowly ahead of Liberal Matt Moran, but that could change as thousands of postal and out-of-district votes are counted. There is also no clear result in Fremantle, where Labor's Josh Wilson is ahead on primary votes but will have to wait for preferences to be tallied before knowing if he will keep the seat he has held for nine years. It is understood counting had slowed in Fremantle as votes were moved from polling places to central locations, but is expected to be underway again as of Tuesday morning. The Australian Electoral Commission said on Tuesday it had begun "fresh scrutiny" — a "mandatory secondary count of all votes that have been counted so far". "While fresh scrutiny doesn't typically provide any additional results information to reflect on aside from some minor changes, it will provide some further clarity for seats that had their two-candidate preferred contests reset," Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said. Having trouble seeing this form? Try Loading
ABC News
03-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
How the Liberals' loss at the 2025 federal election shows a failure to learn from WA
The scale of Labor's victory — or maybe more accurately, the scale of the Liberals' failure — surprised many last night. But it shouldn't have, especially not for Western Australian Liberals. Because at the last three elections, the WA branch delivered its three worst ever results. Each was meant to be a lesson to learn. Listen more. Develop solid policies with wide appeal. Rid factional influence from every level of the party. Election essentials: The numbers speak for themselves. According to retiring ABC election analyst Antony Green, more than a quarter of WA voters switched from supporting the Liberals and Nationals to Labor between 2013 and 2021. Labor Tangney candidate Sam Lim embraces a supporter after comfortably winning a seat the Liberals desperately wanted back. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) As the Coalition comes to terms with its devastating result overnight, some supporters in WA will no doubt be wishing they had tuned their ears to the alarm bells that were ringing out west in 2017, then 2021 — and all over again just two months ago. Post-mortem lessons The Liberals' problems were spelled out in the state party's most recent full post-mortem that came after the nightmare 2021 poll. That report found policy development "appeared to rest entirely with the leader" and criticised "ill thought-out policies". Similar criticisms have already been levelled at Peter Dutton. Dejected supporters of Tangney Liberal candidate Howard Ong listen to Peter Dutton conceding the election. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) "There's been a lack of policy, and the ones they have produced haven't filled out the gaps, like on nuclear, on gas, or they've left it too late, like defence," The Liberals chose to Some seats have yet to be confirmed, including Bullwinkel where the Liberals' Matt Moran says he's confident of victory. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) Labor But perhaps most concerning for the Liberals was the conclusion that: "There seemed to be a policy disconnect from the party's traditional base." "While the message was understood, it had no impact or effect on electors' voting intentions," the review noted. Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on Failure in Curtin, Tangney That disconnect between the party and its traditional base has been clear in the three demolitions at a state level. In 2017 and 2021, the party's traditional strongholds slipped away with little resistance, and many haven't returned. The Liberals' Tom White failed in his attempt to win the seat of Curtin from teal independent Kate Chaney. ( ABC News: Courtney Withers ) Curtin, which is blue-ribbon heartland, looks to have drifted further away from the Liberals as a result of Climate 200-backed independent Kate Chaney, despite textbook Liberal candidate Tom White campaigning for more than a year. In Tangney, Labor's most marginal seat in the state and another traditional Liberal stronghold, the Liberals went backwards by three per cent. Moore, which the Liberals had held for nearly three decades, couldn't be prevented from falling into Labor's hands by former Federal Liberal MP Vince Connelly. Labor's Tom French snatched the formerly Liberal held seat of Moore on Saturday, in Perth's outer northern suburbs. The main bright spot for the party was in Canning where Andrew Hastie — who was accused of keeping a low profile on the federal campaign while working on his seat — boosted his margin by 3.6 per cent. If former Malcolm Turnbull-staffer Matt Moran can swing Bullwinkel — a new seat straddling Perth's urban fringe and stretching out into regional WA — it will be another glimmer of hope for the party, although one which had been expected as a bare minimum result. That two of the state's three regional seats in O'Connor and Durack swung significantly to the Liberals was merely what would have been expected, given Labor's unpopularity in the regions over issues like ending the live sheep trade. Rock bottom? It's an understatement to say the night's results leave the Liberals with some significant soul-searching to do. "We will rebuild," pledged Mr Dutton in his concession speech. But the lessons of the WA branch show that even truly diabolical results aren't always enough to turn the party around in a meaningful way. It was not much of a party at Tom White's election night function after he failed to win the seat of Curtin from teal independent Kate Chaney. ( ABC News: Courtney Withers ) "It's like a drug addict finally realising they have to change," was how the state's Nationals leader, Shane Love, described the conservatives' third consecutive abysmal state election result. It will be up to the Liberals to decide if this result is their rock bottom or ignore the lessons and face further electoral pain next time around. The 2025 election explained: Loading
ABC News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Can Liberal Tom White unseat teal Kate Chaney to win back Curtin in the federal election?
Things don't tend to move quickly in Western Australia's most affluent electorate. Curtin takes in some of Perth's wealthiest suburbs, where beautiful homes look out over sweeping coastal views and stereotypes abound of residents vehemently opposing any change, especially around planning laws. Despite those generalisations, which really only represent a portion of the electorate, the political landscape in Perth's western suburbs has changed rapidly over the last few years. Curtin takes in some of Perth's wealthiest suburbs. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) It had been Liberal heartland, as blue as they come for almost all of its 73 years, often represented by cabinet ministers. Climate 200-backed independent Kate Chaney made history at the last election The Liberals' 13.9 per cent margin was destroyed by a campaign focused in large part on climate change, drawing economically conservative but socially progressive Liberals away from a party they saw as drifting further to the right. But three years on, the issue is nowhere near as prominent as Ms Chaney attempts to maintain her 1.1 per cent margin. Even here, cost of living pressures weigh heavily on voters' minds. "When I'm doorknocking, many people are still deeply concerned about the climate," Ms Chaney told the ABC. Ms Chaney says voters are still thinking about climate, just not as much. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) "The cost of living challenges that people are under has meant that's become a very immediate focus for people. "But I don't think it changes the underlying need for good long-term thinking that will affect things like inflation, but also climate change." Her challenger, former international Uber executive Tom White, has picked up on the same feeling among voters. Tom White says politicians should be focused on national issues, as well as needs in their own backyards. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) "It's very rare that someone brings up climate change when I'm doorknocking," he said. "As you'd expect, more fundamental hip pocket issues are confronting people. "It is a public policy problem, but we have many public policy problems and we can't be overly distracted by one thing at the expense of others." Climate a shrinking issue That shift is reflected in ABC Vote Compass data — which showed a 19 per cent drop in the proportion of Western Australians who think more needs to be done to address climate change at this election. Kelvin Fewings is traditionally a Labor voter and has noticed his own priorities shifting too, with Perth's continuing housing crisis now his dominant concern, overtaking climate change. That's despite being in what he describes as a "very fortunate" position with support from his parents and a healthy fly in-fly out wage. Curtin voter Kelvin Fewings wants all sides of politics to be more ambitious. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) "It's still a pressing issue in my mind, but it's not as pressing because it's not right in your face," he said. " It's hard to worry about next week when you don't know about [the] next day. " The 25-year-old wants to see more bold action from politicians, and a wider focus. "I think it'd be great if we could go back to talking about environmental policy as a crisis instead of everyday living as a crisis," he said. What is the role of a local MP? Both Chaney and White seem to reflect deeply on the role of politicians in tackling both short- and long-term issues on electors' behalf. Ms Chaney says her supporters show her campaign is a "grassroots" effort. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) Beyond their policy offerings, each has a different view on what the role of a local MP is. While some of the Liberals' campaign has been about promises — upgrades to local infrastructure and nuclear power as a low-emission energy source — there's also been a focus on what they argue is the lack of power an independent can wield, especially in a majority government. Signs for both candidates have covered the electorate ahead of polling day. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) Among the flood of pamphlets filling local letterboxes have been flyers carrying messages like "Let's make Curtin matter" and "Don't risk it with Chaney". A letter from John Howard sent in the final week of the campaign tells voters: "If you want a change of government, there is nothing to be gained by parking your vote in the middle." Listening to the community Chaney's campaign messages were reflected in signs she and her supporters waved in what they've dubbed a "'flute flurry" along local roads like the busy West Coast Highway. In the mix are a few with messages like "climate action now" and "Kate for climate". Ms Chaney says her campaign reflects the concerns of her community. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) "Honk for transparency" one read, "listening to Curtin" another. Ms Chaney said she demonstrated the latter when last year she changed her position from supporting the end of the live sheep trade to opposing it. "Because I listened to my community, and I think that if politicians are not willing to change their mind we've got a real problem," she said. Stay updated: Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on It is that aspect of the job — representing the views of her community in political debate — which Ms Chaney sees as central to the role of a federal MP. "We've got these national challenges that we need to deal with, like housing and productivity, tax reform, climate — these are the things that federal government should be focused on," Ms Chaney said. "And if governments think that they can buy people's votes with little infrastructure projects at a local level, we're missing the opportunity to really set a direction for the country." Mr White says it's important to operate in a party "where a cheque can be written". ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) Mr White broadly agreed, and said he wanted to "elevate" discussions about how to grow the national economy as one example. But he also believes there is a legitimate role for federal representatives to play in funding "justifiable investments in local community infrastructure". "And you do, frankly speaking, just need the clout of operating in a party where a cheque can be written rather than a letter being written," Mr White said. Donation spotlight Whether those cheques can be written, or whether Ms Chaney's views can translate to much more than debate, is out of either of their control. Their power, or otherwise, will be decided by the makeup of the Parliament and whether either Labor or the Coalition can govern in their own right. Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Neither is leaving anything on the table though when it comes to what they do control. Ms Chaney's donor wall showed $930,684 in donations so far this year, as of Wednesday afternoon, about a third of which came from Climate 200. Ms Chaney says she's proud to have overseen a positive campaign. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) Mr White would not say how much he has received in donations, but that: "if your opponent is spending well over seven figures then there's an obligation to respond". As the end of the race nears, both seem content they've given it all they can. Tom White says he's happy with the campaign he's run. ( ABC News: Keane Bourke ) "I'm feeling really positive … it's going to be close, but I'm feeling good about it," Ms Chaney said. Mr White described himself as being "at peace", no matter the result. "I think I've done just about everything I can do," he said. Loading Having trouble seeing this form? Try
