A leaked internal review into the Liberals’ 2025 federal election defeat recommends the party do more pandering to immigrant voters so it can reflect “modern Australia”.
The Liberal Party federal executive last week decided not to publicly release the review, but the 64-page document was leaked to the media and then tabled in parliament by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday.
The controversial election loss autopsy contained 17 recommendations, including one focused on “multicultural communities”, and included responses from MPs and candidates accusing then-leader Peter Dutton of being unpopular with Chinese and Indian voters because he was seen as tough on immigration.
“Broadening the support base is necessary if the Party is to reflect modern Australia. The Party must develop a renewal strategy for engagement with multicultural communities and young people in which MPs are held accountable for their engagement efforts,” read Recommendation 15.
“Federal Executive has previously adopted a discussion paper on multicultural engagement. This must be led by the Parliamentary Team. New efforts must be
made.”
Recommendation 10 also called for the formation of an expert advisory panel to “act as a sounding board for the Federal Campaign Director and to stress test proposed campaign ideas and initiatives”.
“The views of key voter demographics, notably women, young people and those from multicultural communities, must be accounted for in these discussions,” the recommendation stated.
Review authors Pru Goward and Nick Minchin wrote that Victorian MP Keith Wolahan “provided insightful analysis” about his loss of the seat of Menzies, which has the highest proportion of ethnic Chinese of any electorate, following large swing against him in 2022.
“Mr Wolahan deployed a three-year campaign to recover the Chinese vote and received donations to improve the Party’s reach and communication within the Chinese community, focussing on 13 diaspora heavy seats he identified nationally,” the authors wrote.
“The team provided daily updates on Chinese language media and social media, as well as targeted national campaigns. It was Mr Wolahan’s assessment that the party was making inroads, but it collapsed in the final days when the dominant coverage was Senator Hume’s unfortunate ‘Chinese spies’ comment, which went viral in local Chinese language platforms.”
Ms Hume was appointed deputy leader after Angus Taylor won a leadership challenge against Sussan Ley last month.
The review also noted that in the seat of Kooyong “issues for Chinese voters were identified as crime, opposition to public housing and the sense that they were not welcome in the community, but the Liberal campaign failed to convert these concerns to vote drivers”.
“Those seats in NSW with similarly high Chinese votes also suffered punishing swings, including Bradfield, Bennelong and Banks. The Party’s capacity to thoughtlessly offend groups, including the Chinese, was, as others have observed, a widespread problem,” the authors stated.
“Good research and discipline when discussing sensitive topics is a lesson well learnt from the ALP. Keith Wolahan also believed Peter Dutton’s record as Immigration Minister had not endeared him to the Chinese and Indian diasporas.”
Mr Wolahan wrote in his submission: “Diaspora campaigning is critical in Australia, we will never be back in government until we understand it and the diaspora respects us.”
Amelia Hamer, who lost Kooyong to a Teal candidate and is now running for Malvern in November’s state election, wrote: “Modern migrants no longer come to Australia because they are forever leaving behind their old country and will never go back. They see themselves as part of both places and we need to understand that.”
Other unsuccessful candidates wrote that “the Liberal Party needs to understand Australia as it is and not how we would like it to be”, and Kimberley Washington, who ran a failed campaign in the seat of Lilley in Queensland, said she felt immigrant voters were “used by candidates rather than brought on board”, the review stated.
“Ask the leadership what they want, just don’t take photos and walk away,” Ms Washington said.
The review also stated “the female vote is clearly a problem for the Liberal Party”, and said a major factor in the election loss was a combination of Mr Dutton being “unattractive to women” and “policies or messaging that alienated women”.
Header image: Left, Angus Taylor paints his face to try to appeal to Indian voters. Right, Peter Dutton panders to Chinese voters (Facebook).
