Inside the Liberal Party’s disastrous Federal election campaign to win back WA, and how Labor kept its hold

It had been an ordinary few weeks for Peter Dutton on the campaign trail in the east, and Liberals in WA were starting to worry this was impacting on the local crusade. Near the middle of April, the party decided it was time to unleash a secret weapon, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price — a Coalition frontbencher who had been on the right side of public opinion in her fierce opposition to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Voice referendum — in WA. Given 60 per cent of WA voted against the Voice, the view was Price would be a welcome boost for the local Liberal campaign. A decision was made to stage a media event at the Mt Pleasant Bowling Club on April 12, where Price would join Dutton, Senator Michaelia Cash and their Tangney candidate, Howard Ong. Having lost Tangney — a seat that runs along most of the Swan River and encompasses most of Perth’s inner southern suburbs — in 2022, the Liberals believed it was one they could prise back. April 12 was supposed to be the day Dutton received a welcome boost in WA. Instead it all went horribly wrong. In her rousing speech — and with the local and national press hanging on to her every word — Price vowed to “make Australia great again”. Those four words might have been applauded months back, when Donald Trump was a maverick US presidential candidate riding high. But his fierce trade sanctions, crucially a 10 per cent tariff on Australia, made any comparisons to Trump dangerous for Dutton, and the Liberals. Price tried to retreat, saying she had not realised she had made a Trump-inspired declaration, accusing the media of being “Trump obsessed”. But it was too late. The damage had been done. Labor, launching its national campaign in Perth the following day, could not believe its luck. “This was a critical moment in the campaign in WA,” a Labor source said this week. “It was at the end of bad 10 days for Dutton and the day before the Labor launch here in WA.” In hindsight, the Tangney debacle was a political omen. At the start of the campaign, Liberals — battered and bruised during the ill-fated State Election in which it won just seven of 59 lower house seats — believed the Federal result would be better. Having lost Swan, Hasluck, Pearce, Tangney and Curtin in 2022, they thought they could win back at least two of those — as well as the new seat of Bullwinkel. Sources say Dutton actually believed winning Curtin, Tangney and Bullwinkel were a pathway to The Lodge. Those predictions would prove way off the mark — the Liberals failed to win back any of their WA seats and even ended up losing Moore, in Perth’s outer north. Labor claimed victory in Bullwinkel late on Friday, with Trish Cook elected. In the aftermath of the election, Labor sources gave The Sunday Times a rare insight into the tactics that led to WA keeping its red tinge. They said their own secret weapon had been the “unpopular Peter Dutton”. “As the mood continued to sour against the Opposition Leader throughout the campaign, every critical candidate contest became a choice between the Labor candidate and Dutton,” a Labor source said. “Dutton, for example, was the target in Pearce — not (Liberal candidate Jan) Norberger. “Vote Mia, vote Matt, get Dutton was essentially the message in Bullwinkel. “Vote Kate (Hulett, independent candidate), risk Dutton in Fremantle.” Labor decided to emulate its successful 2022 campaign, which was very WA-centric and run by locals — a strategy the Liberals had publicly stated they wanted to ape. The WA campaign think tank was headed by outgoing Labor secretary Ellie Whitaker and her deputy Lauren Cayoun with senior strategic advice from former McGowan staffer Mark Reed. “We ran a distinct WA-centric campaign, simply focused on issues that resonate with Western Australians, rather than a broadly calibrated national message and (were) laser focused on highlighting Albo’s support of, and affinity to, WA,” a source said. “The campaign was well-researched, well-financed and disciplined.” Dutton’s nuclear energy plan, which included a reactor for former coal town Collie, was also targeted by Labor. Labor also leveraged Roger Cook and Mark McGowan’s popularity to garnish support for Albanese. “The cherry on the cake in the final week came from two strong brand representatives – Roger Cook and Mark McGowan,” a source said. “Through their visibility at press (conferences) and electorate visits they provided credible third-party endorsement of the Albanese Government to voters.” And it can now be revealed Labor sank $1 million into winning Bullwinkel — more than half coming from the WA head office and a similar amount from the national office. “That money went into well-researched, targeted YouTube, catch-up TV and meta digital ads, print, mail and outdoor advertising,” a source said. WA Liberals — headed by State director Simon Morgan, State president Caroline di Russo and Senator Michaelia Cash — also ran ads to highlight local issues, like Labor’s ban on live sheep exports. Senator Dean Smith highlighted the cost-of-living crisis by discussing skyrocketing rents and mortgage pain in key seats. But despite the local efforts, campaign headquarters in Sydney were still calling the shots in WA, Liberal sources revealed. “They (Liberal national campaign headquarters) controlled everything,” a Liberal source said. “When you have the east coast controlling everything it disempowers those closest to the problems and who know the best solutions.” Another source said: “Liberals were led to believe Moore was fine.” Andrew Hastie, who retained his Liberal seat of Canning and increased his margin, said Labor had been “far more effective at running a localised campaign”. “We need to decentralise our campaign infrastructure and empower our State director to better integrate WA local issues with the national message,” Mr Hastie said. Several Liberal sources said internal polling emanating from national HQ about seats in the west ahead of the election was so wrong it wasn’t funny — and that Liberal candidates were led to believe they had strong chances in Pearce as well as Curtin, Tangney and Bullwinkel. Right up until booths closed, WA Liberals believed they were a 50/50 chance in Tangney, had their noses in front in Curtin and were on the cusp of a boilover in Pearce. “It was a failure of the WA Liberal Party not to have shown a greater due diligence over research provided by campaign headquarters,” a source said, adding many had their head in the sand about the perception of the leader. “Dutton was toxic in WA — but Liberals refused to believe that,” the source said. Some Liberals point out the swing to Labor in WA overall was 0.7 per cent — less than other States and better than the nationwide swing of 2.7 per cent. But only Curtin and, likely, Bullwinkel are likely to be marginal at the next election. The one-sided election has left Liberal candidates distraught and hard-nosed party faithful shellshocked, wondering where a once-proud party lost its way in the west. Dumped at preselection in favour of Vince Connelly for Moore, Ian Goodenough — who failed to be re-elected in an independent run — maintains he could have retained it. “I got 10 per cent of the primary (vote) and if you added that to the margin — Vince only lost by 2.8 or 2.9 per cent — so that 10pc would have made it a 6 or 7 per cent seat for the Liberals,” Mr Goodenough said. “I think when you select people who had good local connections with the electorate and had done a fairly competent job — and you sort of get rid of them for no good reason — then this causes a lot of tension and drama within the electorate. Electors don’t like that.” Senior Liberals hope Tom White, who raised $1.3m in his fight against Kate Chaney in Curtin, will not be lost to politics and might run for the Senate at the next election. Party faithful starting their recriminations and analysis were also still dismayed former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop refused to campaign in her old seat of Curtin — though defenders said she couldn’t due to a diplomatic role with the United Nations. However, Cash said Liberals need to heed the lessons voters gave the party. “If there is a lesson that we can take out of this election immediately I think it is that we need to focus on our values and beliefs,” she told The Sunday Times. “I think Australians will better understand our policies if we make them much more aware of our values and beliefs. “Those beliefs are based in freedom — the rights and freedoms of all people.” While some Liberals have spent the week bemoaning the party’s lack of women — and female support — Cash rejected quotas as an answer. “I am someone who believes in the best person for the job. I definitely think we should set aspirational targets,” she said. “But it’s no longer just about whether or not it’s a male or female split — you also have to have a look at the demographics of Australia and whether or not the party represents that demographic mix.” Smith concurred major lessons had to be learnt to make the Liberals “electorally competitive”. “The WA Liberals must reclaim our mantle as the party that understands WA and will fight for its interests,” he said.