The WA election has left the Liberals decimated and in the wilderness, facing a long road back – ABC News
The West Australian Liberal Party lies in ruins.
For so long the dominant political force in this state, the Liberals have been sent a message by the electorate that is beyond brutal in its force.
The politics, the policies and the people. We've collected all our coverage on the election campaign here.
Their leader is gone, blue-ribbon territory all over Perth has fallen into Labor hands and the Liberals' Lower House ranks are now so minuscule that they could fit on a tandem bike, outnumbered by the Nationals.
And their stint in the political wilderness could last much longer than the four miserable years that now certainly await the Liberals, after an unmitigated disaster of an election night.
"This is ground zero for the Liberal party," Churchlands MP Sean L'Estrange told party supporters at a function that, somehow, could have been his political wake, with his seat now on a knife-edge.
"The nuclear bomb has gone off."
ABC News: Jessica Warriner
March 13 was never going to be about toppling Mark McGowan for the Liberals, once the Premier began enjoying rockstar popularity in the COVID era.
But as recently as when Zak Kirkup took on the leadership in late November, the hope in the Liberal partyroom was that they could save the furniture.
The WA election has been called for Labor.
Holding onto their 13 seats, maybe even gaining one or two more, was seen as the bar for Mr Kirkup.
Instead, the party has now fallen off a cliff and seems to have lost both its official party status and its role as the opposition.
"Very few people walk away from this catastrophe undamaged," was the stinging verdict from one MP.
Mr Kirkup losing his own seat is one of the telling signs he is the first WA opposition leader to do so, and the first major party leader in WA to suffer that fate in nearly 90 years.
ABC News: Eliza Laschon
But the fact it was one of the least-surprising things to happen on election night shows beyond doubt how badly the campaign went for the blue team.
The Liberal post-mortem will be stinging, with the finger pointing having begun long before polls closed.
One of the greatest causes of ire among Liberals both those who remain and the ones who will spend today cleaning out a career's worth of work in their offices was the party's green energy policy.
ABC News: Hugh Sando
Many Liberals were mystified by it when it was unveiled, believing it further alienated the party's base and torpedoed their hopes in Collie for years to come, while having no significant subset of voters that it could realistically win.
It scared voters on the right and while some on the left may have liked it, they still voted Labor or Green or so the thinking goes.
But beyond the policy arena, the actual campaign itself was a source of immense frustration for some Liberals.
Some MPs felt Mr Kirkup's conceding defeat with 16 days to go consigned the Liberals to irrelevance and turned off voters, who perceived they had given up.
It has many Liberals questioning whether the move to a first-term opposition leader so close to an election was a mistake.
"The energy policy was a debacle," a shellshocked former Liberal leader Mike Nahan said on the ABC's election night panel.
"And I think in the end you will see his statement that 'we have lost', that we had no chance of winning, just was not right."
Furthermore, the party was so cash-strapped that it was outspent dramatically by Labor. Attack ads targeting Mr Kirkup appeared relentlessly with little response.
ABC News: Tabarak Al Jrood
And Labor used 'dirt files' to great success, forcing the Liberals to defend questionable views espoused by numerous candidates while the Opposition made no in-roads in that space.
But, as much as the now-former MPs who will today start dusting off their resumes if they hadn't already were immensely frustrated by the way the party handled the past five weeks, the problems run much deeper than that.
And they started long before Mr Kirkup was even a parliamentarian.
ABC News: Hugh Sando
Many Liberals believe the current dearth of political talent in their ranks can be attributed in part to the failure to attract and nurture those with ability during the years of the Barnett government.
The question of who the next Liberal premier would be has been a source of fear for conservatives since Christian Porter and Troy Buswell left state politics, not a newfound phenomenon.
The politics, the policies and the people. We've collected all our coverage on the election campaign here.
Then there is the issue of preselection.
The Liberals battled candidate controversies on multiple fronts from one claiming the allegations against Mr Porter were part of some conspiracy related to the state election, to another suggesting a link between 5G and COVID-19.
And those were just the tip of the iceberg.
A significant number of Liberals believe potential quality candidates are choosing not to seek state preselection because there is no realistic chance of success unless they attach themselves to a key party powerbroker.
ABC News: Andrew O'Connor
Winning Liberal preselection in the metropolitan area, without tying yourself to either Nick Goiran or Peter Collier, is pretty unrealistic these days.
Expect to see old Liberal hands demanding urgent party reform in the aftermath of this annihilation, with calls for plebiscite-style preselections and other changes to curtail the influence of powerbrokers.
Most immediately, though, the Liberals need to work out how such a paltry team can hold a politically-dominant Labor government to account while seemingly not even being the official opposition.
Simple tasks like allocating policy portfolios and filling committees will be made extraordinarily difficult by there being so few MPs.
Some MPs believe the Liberals will have no choice but to have coalition discussions with the Nationals, with their only chance of properly holding Labor to account being to work together.
At this stage, it might be David Honey and Libby Mettam flipping a coin to decide who becomes leader although for now, the Liberals have a glimmer of hope that Mr L'Estrange or maybe Bill Marmion could hold on.
ABC News: Gian De Poloni
Whoever gets the job will face the challenge of a lifetime, with the Liberals needing to climb Mount Everest and then some just to make the 2025 election even close to competitive.
As for the departing leader, he will cop plenty of blame from some Liberals for a campaign more than one labelled a "shit show".
But most Liberals admit that the problems run much deeper and will not be easily fixed.
Picking up the pieces from an election night calamity will be a long process as the tiny number of Liberals to survive this bloodbath try to work out how to rebuild a shattered party.
See the original post here:
The WA election has left the Liberals decimated and in the wilderness, facing a long road back - ABC News
- The Conservatives and Liberals refuse to stand on guard - The Globe and Mail - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Candidates make final pitch in Canada election with Liberals holding lead - Yahoo - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Polls tighten as Canadians head to the polls. Will Liberals pull off the ultimate comeback? - GZERO Media - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- When equal does not mean the same: Liberals still do not understand their women problem - The Conversation - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Federal Election Poll: Liberals poised to win slim majority or minority government - Vancouver Sun - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Stories That Show How Modern Liberals Have Lost Their Way - The New York Times - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Yes, Kashmir Faces Settler-Colonialism But Not The Kind That Left-Liberals Want You To Believe - Swarajyamag - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Liberals on course to take majority of N.S. seats, polls and experts agree - CBC - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Red ripple in blue Calgary? Liberals eye record gains in Conservative stronghold - CBC - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- POLLS: Liberals hold a steady lead, and other poll insights - SooToday.com - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Liberals vs. Conservatives: comparing proposed immigration policies ahead of the 2025 election - CIC News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Candidates make final pitch in Canada election with Liberals holding lead By Reuters - Investing.com - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Mandryk: Liberals will need more than a few NDP votes to win in Saskatchewan - Regina Leader Post - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Mark Carneys Liberals will stand up for British Columbia against President Trump - Liberal Party of Canada - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- 'Slugging it out': Liberals up by four points ahead of election, poll finds - National Post - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Carney tells Assembly of First Nations Liberals are committed to implementing UNDRIP - CBC - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- The phantom menaces of the Liberals and Conservatives - The Globe and Mail - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Mark Carneys Liberals will protect B.C. workers and build Canada Strong - Liberal Party of Canada - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- First YouGov MRP of 2025 Canadian federal election shows Liberals on track to win a modest majority - YouGov /Research - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals Vs Conservatives: Where Things Stand In Canada Polls 2025 - NDTV - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- As Canadas Elections Loom, Liberals, Not Trump, Are the Real Danger to the Dominions Sovereignty - The New York Sun - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Election Writ 4/22: Liberals still favoured after flurry of new polling - The Writ - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Meet the Conservative populist looking to unseat Canadas Liberals - The Washington Post - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals and Conservatives fighting for support from centrist voters, poll shows - National Post - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Letters, April 23: Liberals should thank Trump if they win - Edmonton Sun - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- The fascist moment is here: Have mainstream liberals heard the alarm go off? - Salon.com - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Mark Carneys Liberals Stand Up to President Trump for Qubec Identity and Economy - Liberal Party of Canada - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals promise $130B in new spending and no timeline to balance the budget - Yahoo News Canada - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Bill Maher taunts liberals with 1-word description of himself after Trump dinner - SILive.com - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- What went wrong with the Liberals verification system and what does it mean for the future? - The Globe and Mail - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals try and recapture Toronto-St. Pauls after byelection loss - CityNews Toronto - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Mark Carneys Liberals to protect and modernize Canadas public health care system - Liberal Party of Canada - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- John Ivison: Carney takes to showboating as the Liberals savour their comfort zone - National Post - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Did the Liberals try to strip religious groups of charitable status? - Canada's National Observer - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Can the teal appeal hold? Liberals targeting Curtin and Goldstein argue independent wave has passed - The Guardian - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Gilbert: How Wisconsin liberals have made spring elections a nightmare for Republicans - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Opinion: The Liberals and Tories are so similar, they look like Tweedledum and Tweedledee - The Globe and Mail - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals to release fully costed platform as election campaign hits the homestretch - CityNews Toronto - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- A case study in groupthink: were liberals wrong about the pandemic? | US politics - The Guardian - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Federal election: Conservatives and Liberals are targeting different generations and geographies online - The Conversation - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- GOP must Musk up, liberals vs. the Constitution and other commentary - New York Post - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- How to make Trump obey courts? Heres an explosive strategy liberals will love - NJ.com - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- CT liberals united on combating Trump, but issues remain - Connecticut Public - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Liberals 'abundance agenda' takes time to absorb, but it's worth it - The Statehouse File - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Liberals win majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court - CNN - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Mark Carney visits Victoria as Liberals try to break into southern Vancouver Island - Vancouver Sun - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Liberals hold Wisconsin Supreme Court after campaign shaped heavily by Musk - The 19th News - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Mark Carneys Liberals to deliver urgent support to protect Canadian retirees in this global crisis - Liberal Party of Canada - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- CTV National News: Polling shows tightening race between Liberals and Conservatives - CTV News - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Liberals maintain polling lead as campaign nears the halfway point - CBC - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Mark Carneys Liberals to protect Canadas Nature, Biodiversity, and Water - Liberal Party of Canada - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- FIRST READING: The Liberals may have just lost their most winning issue - National Post - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Gap between Conservatives and Liberals narrowing in polls - CTV News - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- LILLEY: The Liberals put Canada in this mess, not Trump - Toronto Sun - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- How the Liberals picked a fight with another type of woman - AFR - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Liberals open their first collaborative health clinic - Yahoo News Canada - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Gap between Conservatives and Liberals narrowing in polls - CP24 - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Canada Liberals to vote on Trudeau's successor as trade war with US heats up - FRANCE 24 English - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- The Liberals are on the verge of a remarkable comeback. Theres one thing the new leader must do to clinch a win - Toronto Star - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- The Liberals Choose a Leader in the Shadow of Trumps Threats - The New York Times - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Liberals to turn the page on the Justin Trudeau era as party selects successor - CTV News - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Tesla, Inc. (TSLA): Jim Cramer Warns Liberals Arent Buying Their Cars! - Yahoo Finance - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Canada Liberals to reveal Trudeaus successor amid trade war with US - The News International - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Disgusting, Ugly Liberals Try To Smear Riley Gaines For The Dumbest Reason Possible - Outkick - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- The Liberals are about to choose the next prime minister. What happens next? - CTV News - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Canada's ruling Liberals move on from Trudeau with Trump boost - Reuters - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Liberals torch trash Gavin Newsom for launching podcast with Charlie Kirk interview - The Independent - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Canadas Liberals were heading into a crushing defeat. Then came Trump. - The Washington Post - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Carson Jerema: Free trade is dead. Someone should tell the Liberals - National Post - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Austrian liberals' vote removes last obstacle to coalition government - Reuters - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Gould hoping progressive Liberals will propel her to party leadership - iPolitics.ca - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Liberals torch trash Gavin Newsom for launching podcast with Charlie Kirk interview - AOL - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Opposition PCs hammer NL Liberals on health cuts to hit savings goal - SaltWire N.L. powered by The Telegram - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Gavin Newsom splits from California liberals and condemns transgender athletes in women's sport in chat with C - Daily Mail - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Analysis-Canada's ruling Liberals move on from Trudeau with Trump boost - MSN - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- An Emotional Torture Chamber for Liberals: 3 Writers on Trumps First Month - The New York Times - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- What conservative women know and liberals don't about happiness | Opinion - USA TODAY - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- What conservative women know and liberals don't about happiness | Opinion - Institute for Family Studies - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Liberals', conservatives' trust in US government's use of digital health data diverged during COVID - University of Minnesota Twin Cities - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- The changing face of gun ownership... Liberals reveal the bold reasons they're taking up arms - Daily Mail - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]