Australian Federal election 2025 live: Albanese gives candid insight into Peter Dutton’s concession call

Acting Liberal leader Sussan Ley paid tribute to Peter Dutton, thanking him for 25 years of service and describing him as an “outstanding” parliamentarian, cabinet minister, and party leader.

Beyond a formal statement from Ms Ley, there was little to no public thanks or farewell for the outgoing Liberal leader after his historic loss on Saturday.

Ms Ley, who served as deputy for the past three years, acknowledged it was a tough time for the party, and offered a respectful nod to Mr Dutton’s lengthy political career.

“Last night was a very difficult night for the Liberal Party and today we reflect on these results with humility,” she said.

“I want to pay particular tribute to Peter Dutton and thank him for his 25 years of deeply valued service to our country,” she added.

“He has been an outstanding Member of Parliament, senior Cabinet Minister, Leader of our Party and friend. We wish him, Kirilly, Bec, Harry and Tom all the very best for their future. They will rightly be very proud of his outstanding service to Australia.”

As the fallout continues, Ms Ley said she had consulted with senior party leadership and noted there were still several seats requiring preferential vote counts before a formal leadership meeting could take place.

“In the meantime, the Member for Durack, the Hon. Melissa Price MP is the Acting Chief Opposition Whip and will communicate further about these arrangements in due course.”

Ms Ley also thanked party members: “Finally, I thank our many dedicated Liberal and National Party members, Australia-wide, for supporting us so well during this campaign and at this time.”

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery tomorrow.

The New England MP told ABC that he received the diagnosis after his GP insisted he undergo a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, which had returned an elevated result.

A subsequent MRI and biopsy confirmed the worst.

“Prostate cancer, if you get it early, is very, very treatable; in fact, about 97 per cent successful,” he said.

“I’ll have the operation on Monday and I will then have a couple of days in hospital and will recuperate after that.”

Mr Joyce has no plans to resign and is postive about his prognosis.

The race is officially on to find the next Liberal leader after Peter Dutton’s dramatic loss in the Federal Election — not just of the top job, but his Queensland seat of Dickson.

Coalition MPs say Angus Taylor and deputy Sussan Ley are the early frontrunners, while Dan Tehan is another name being floated. Whoever steps up will inherit the smallest Liberal party room in modern history — potentially just 25 seats — and the enormous task of rebuilding after what senior figures have described as a “bloodbath.”

Mr Dutton has gone quiet in the wake of the defeat, remaining in hibernation on Sunday after becoming the first Opposition Leader in Australian history to lose their seat at an election.

The scale of the loss has sent shockwaves through the Coalition.

After holding 56 seats, the party is now on track to slump into the low 40s, with only 36 confirmed as of Sunday afternoon.

Seats like Monash, Flinders, Longman and Forrest remain in play, but the party’s collapse has already claimed several key figures — including Michael Sukkar, James Stevens, and outspoken moderate Bridget Archer.

The leader of the Clive Palmer-backed Trumpet of Patriots party has shut down her social media accounts following its poor election performance, despite bombarding voters with spam text messages and spending millions on advertising.

Suellen Wrightson, who stood in the NSW seat of Hunter and was dubbed by Mr Palmer as “Australia’s next prime minister”, achieved just 3.4 per cent of the vote by Sunday morning.

In a final post on X, she said the party would “use this decisive Labor victory to reevaluate our position”.

Read the story

A key supporter of the Voice to Parliament has hailed Labor’s barnstorming Federal Election victory as an endorsement of welcome to country ceremonies and a rejection of “ignorance” and “xenophobia”.

Thomas Mayo was one of the most prominent campaigners for the Yes vote in the failed 2023 referendum on amending the Australian constitution to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

“Tonight, Australia voted no to ignorance and yes to acknowledgement,” the Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander posted on X on Saturday night.

“No to xenophobia and yes to welcomes, no to regression and yes to progress.”

Read the story

For any democratic leader contesting an election under the cloud of mounting global crises, maverick US president Donald Trump is inevitably the third candidate in the room.

Nicola Smith breaks down why he has proved to be the “kiss of death” in the both the Australian and the recent Canadian elections.

She writes: “Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who like Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat, did not seek to be a copycat Trump and consistently shut down the suggestion.

“But he fell into the trap of touting populist Trump-like policies that appealed to the Coalition’s base but drew obvious comparisons with the US President that the majority of the public did not want to embrace.”

Read Nicola’s full analysis here

Ousted Liberal MP Keith Wolahan has warned his shattered party needs to focus on winning metropolitan seats with the party’s representation all but dashed in the capital cities.

While Mr Wolahan said the count was still too close for him to formally concede his prized Melboure seat of Menzies – named for Robert Menzies the founder of the Liberal Party – he will likely lose to Labor’s Gabriel Ng.

He says the Liberal Party needs to remember greater representations in cities.

“Ever since … election night (on 2022) … it was clear that our party has an issue in urban Australia, which is where most people live – most people live in cities,” he told ABC Insiders on Sunday.

“So we need to turn our mind to that like we have never done before,” Mr Wolahan said.

Read the full story here.

As the fallout continues from Peter Dutton’s disastrous loss at the Federal Election, a Liberal Senator has suggested the party needs to “make the Liberal Party great again”.

Speaking on Rowan Dean’s The Outsiders on Sky News, the Liberal’s Alex Antic was asked what when wrong and where to from here for the party.

“What we have to do is make sure that we make the Liberal Party great again,” the South Australian Senator said.

“I said it, there we go. We can make Australia great again by the way. And no one should have any backlash about that”.

The apparent reference of Donald Trump’s signature Make America Great Again slogan comes after many critics have blamed part of Mr Dutton’s diabolical loss to embracing a Trump-like tone pre-campaign.

In the second week of the election campaign, the Coalition attempted to downplay a similar MAGA-like comment made by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at an election rally in the Perth seat of Tangney.

The Liberal candidate for Curtin, Tom White, has conceded victory to sitting teal independent Kate Chaney.

Mr White refused to concede on election night, claiming the seat was too close to call, but on Sunday morning took to Instagram to step aside for Ms Chaney.

“I have just called Kate Chaney to concede the election in Curtin and to congratulate her on a well-deserved victory,” he wrote

“Kate and I have many differences but this is not the time to dwell on them.

“She has been an impressive and formidable opponent. I admire her team and the sincerity they have brought to the campaign, even when we’ve disagreed strongly.

“Defeat stings but it’s much less painful than the permanent, dull ache of wondering what might have been had I never tried.

“I have no regrets.”

Read the full story here.

Asked about his own leadership ambitions, Mr Chalmers said he would be happy to stay on as Treasurer.

“I can’t think of a campaign where a Prime Minister has campaigned more effectively than Anthony Albanese over the course of the last five weeks.”

“I think he is the biggest explanation for why we turned around the trouble that we were in at the end of 2024 to the position that we won last night.

“It was an extraordinary campaign, and I think he deserves to be very proud. My expectation and my hope is that he serves a full term and runs again.

He continued: “I’m personally incredibly proud of him. I rang him during the day yesterday and told him how proud I was of him, and he deserves the lion’s share of the credit for what happened last night.”