A leaked internal review of the Liberal Party's 2025 federal election defeat has described the result as stemming from an 'extraordinary combination of internal errors,' with women, young people and multicultural voters abandoning the party. The 64-page report, authored by Liberal Party elders Pru Goward and Nick Minchin, found a 'notable absence of reflection' from senior decision makers after the loss.
The review, which the Liberal Party federal executive opted not to publicly release, was tabled in parliament by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. It received more than 300 responses from candidates, MPs, party members, pollsters and strategists, with over two-thirds expressing frustration about policy, campaign and communication management. The authors concluded that the campaign failure resulted from internal errors by both the parliamentary and organisational wings, compounded by external factors such as an interest rate cut and a natural disaster-induced election delay.
The Liberals lost women, young people and multicultural voters, with some respondents deeming the party's 'capacity to thoughtlessly offend groups' like Chinese Australians a 'widespread problem.' Former opposition leader Peter Dutton lost both the election and his own seat, marking the party's worst defeat in modern history, with Labor securing 94 of 150 House of Representatives seats.
The review identified a breakdown in the relationship between Dutton and Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst, describing it as 'effectively broken' by the time the campaign arrived. It noted that advice from Hirst and the federal secretariat was 'ignored on a regular basis,' resulting in a 'lack of critical agreement on strategy, tactics, and message' that 'crippled the overall campaign.'
Dutton told the ABC the review had 'distorted' events and did not adequately emphasise the significance of incorrect polling. The Liberal federal executive decided not to release the review, citing no mention of defamation risk, despite earlier concerns raised by Dutton. Copies have since circulated widely among MPs, staff and journalists in Parliament House.
