‘Memories vary’: WFH chaos, Trump loom large over savage Liberal election review
A scathing review from Angus Taylor sought to suppress the finding that “recollections differ” over who approved the Coalition’s disruptive work-from-home policy during the 2025 election and how Peter Dutton’s “Trump-like” policies were deeply unpopular.
Liberal Party elders Pru Goward and Nick Minchin have worked for months on the contentious review of the Conservatives’ worst-ever election loss before it is completed in late 2025. It was announced last week that it would not be broadcast.
But Anthony Albanese made the rare move of tabling the document during question time in federal parliament on Tuesday.
The report, which aimed to offer lessons from the election defeat, revealed a sobering review of the party’s leadership and policy ahead of the May election.
The report found that more than two-thirds of respondents expressed disappointment with the “constructive but critical” management of policy, campaigns and communications.
“Negative sentiment focused on leadership delivery, policy confusion and centralized control,” he said.
The positive view, meanwhile, focused on the party’s “enduring principles” and the defeat of The Voice referendum.
The report found that the Liberal Party went into the election with polls “suggesting a change of government is marginally possible”.
The report stated that Peter Dutton ran a strong campaign during the Voice referendum, and that the required five per cent swing was “a historically large task”.
The re-election of US President Donald Trump was “initially welcomed” but Mr Dutton was branded “Temu Trump”, the report said.
But when Elon Musk’s DOGE began making sweeping cuts to US public services, “Australian voters’ view (of such policies) quickly soured”.
“The Opposition’s decision to abolish home working in the public service and cut 40,000 public service jobs was seen as Trump-like by voters and was so unpopular that it was later reversed and replaced,” the report said. The statement was included.
It was also noted that “memoirs vary depending on who approves” of the WFH policy, which was reportedly not taken to the party room.
Mr Trump’s global tariffs have also deepened discontent with the President and the Leader of the Opposition, now successfully portrayed as “Trump-like”.
“This required an agile and flexible response from the Opposition Leader and an emphatic demonstration that there were no similarities between the two.”
MPs told the authors that they “do not object to a policy direction when it is necessary”.
“Some MPs believed they were self-censoring,” the statement said.
The report found that voters focused on cost-of-living and housing cost pressures, but that these concerns were never “politically disastrous.”
In total, 17 recommendations were made, including providing opportunities for “talented, talented women”, adopting critical internal review processes and having a traveling team follow the opposition leader to “provide an alternative source of advice”.
It also advised the party “never again to allow the Parliamentary Leader and his Office to run the campaign effectively”.
Asked why the review would not be published, Mr Taylor said on Monday that “we need to look forward, not backward”.
“At this point, there are a lot of fingers being pointed about the election, which we know was a bad outcome,” he said.
“We know there is a lot to learn from this. I touched on this point in my first press conference and talked about some of the areas where we made mistakes and should not make them again.
“I’m all about looking forward from now on.
“In the meantime, I have made it very clear that I want an action plan to come from the Federal Secretariat and the Executive, and I am happy to make that action plan in line with the recommendations in the report.”
