The Guardian reported on 4 May that senior Liberals had called for a sweeping policy reset to reconnect with voters two days after the Coalition’s defeat at the 3 May federal election, while others argued the party should move further right.
The Result
The Coalition was defeated on Saturday 3 May, and the Guardian reported the Liberals were wiped off the map in Adelaide and Tasmania and lost a seat in Perth. In south-east Queensland, Dickson, Bonner and Petrie turned red, and in Sydney the party lost Banks and Hughes while Bradfield was left at risk. ABC News reported the losses in South Australia. The Guardian said the vote was decimated in the major cities, leaving the Coalition dominated by regional MPs and the Nationals. Internal polling had put the Liberals ahead in Werriwa, Whitlam and Gilmore in the final days of the campaign, giving the party false hope, and most MPs agree a root-and-branch policy review is needed. Among the complaints are the nuclear plan of the outgoing opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and his rhetoric on Indigenous welcome to country ceremonies.
Birmingham’s Intervention
On Sunday, the moderate former finance minister Simon Birmingham used a LinkedIn post to call the party’s broad church model “clearly broken” and urge quotas for women in preselection. “The Liberal party has failed to learn lessons from the past and if it fails to do so in the face of this result then its future viability to govern will be questioned,” he wrote. He said: “The Liberal party is not seen as remotely liberal and the brand of conservatism projected is clearly perceived as too harsh and out of touch.” He also said: “A Liberal party fit for the future will need to reconnect with and represent liberal ideology, belief and thinking in a new and modern context.” The quotas should be “hard, fast and ambitious”, he said. The Guardian noted Labor has reached gender parity in its caucus since implementing quotas in 1994, while the Liberals have resisted them for decades.
The Moderates’ Diagnosis
NSW senator Dave Sharma said the loss was a failure of strategy and campaign management. “It is clear we failed to convince the public that we would be a better government, even if they had misgivings about Labor,” he said. He added: “The nation is best served by a strong opposition.” Andrew Bragg said: “It was the toughest night for the Liberals ever.” He continued: “We must offer an ambitious economic agenda and a centrist, inclusive social vision. Reclaiming enterprise and the centre is not a departure from our values, it is a return to them.” Arthur Sinodinos argued in a Guardian Australia opinion piece that “Grievance politics was not enough to win” and that “An opposition must have a clear and coherent plan that demonstrates they are ready to govern”. Keith Wolahan said the party had to reconsider its pitch to urban voters: “We need to really dig deep and think about who we are and who we fight for and who makes up Australia.”
The Right’s Answer and the Blame
South Australian senator Alex Antic said: “Unfortunately, we’ve sent the troops into battle without ammunition.” He told Sky News the aim was to “make the Liberal party great again”. Barnaby Joyce said: “It is a wake-up call. There is no winner in our loss but you can’t turn yourself into another party.” Some Liberals blamed campaign strategists, including the former minister turned Dutton adviser Jamie Briggs, while others said the party had drawn the wrong lessons from the 2023 Voice referendum result. Philip Ruddock said the MPs elected on Saturday must chart the course back, citing his father’s line that “the Liberal party always knows how to bake a bigger cake, and the Labor party only know how to cut it up”. The leadership contest remains undecided and is being contested by regional MPs: Sussan Ley in Albury-Wodonga, Dan Tehan in western Victoria and Angus Taylor in Hume.
Related: Independent Nicolette Boele Wins Bradfield by 26 Votes After Full Recount
Sources: The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/04/sweeping-policy-reset-needed-to-reconnect-with-voters-senior-liberals-say-as-others-call-for-lurch-further-right; The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/04/liberal-vote-decimated-in-major-cities-with-coalition-now-dominated-by-regional-mps-and-nationals; The Guardian (comment), Arthur Sinodinos, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/04/grievance-politics-not-enough-an-opposition-must-have-a-clear-and-coherent-plan-to-win-government; ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-03/south-australia-at-the-2025-federal-election/105246284
Photo: Thennicke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Illustrative: Parliament House, Canberra, photographed at dusk in April 2017. The photograph is not from the events described in the article.
