Federal election 2025: Peter Dutton becomes first Federal Opposition leader to lose own seat

Peter Dutton has led the Liberal Party to an historical, diabolical defeat, losing the Federal election and his own seat of Dickson in Queensland.

That makes him the first Federal Opposition leader to lose their seat.

Mr Dutton on Saturday night admitted he and his party had failed in their bid to change government in a dignified concession speech at the Federal Liberal Reception in Brisbane.

“Well, tonight’s not the night that we wanted for the Liberal Party or for our Coalition or, indeed, for our country,” he said as he stood with his wife Kirrily and their sons, Harry and Tom.

“But we worked hard every day over the course of the last three years to do our best for our amazing country.

“One of the great honours of being the leader of this party is we have met people from every side, every corner, the length and breadth of this country. And there are many amazing stories.

“People who have sacrificed, people who are doing it hard at the moment and I’ve always wanted in public life the best for our country and the best for everyone.”

Mr Dutton owned the loss and said he had congratulated Anthony Albanese.

“We didn’t do well enough during this campaign. That much is obvious tonight,” he said. “I accept full responsibility for that.

“Earlier on I called the Prime Minister to congratulate him on his success tonight.

“It’s an historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognise that. I congratulated the Prime Minister and wished he, Jodie and Nathan the best. I said to the Prime Minister his mum would be incredibly proud of his achievement. And he should be very proud of what he has achieved.”

Mr Dutton also revealed he had rung his Labor opponent Ali France, congratulating her on her Dickson victory.

After 36 frenetic days criss-crossing the country — and visiting 22 electorates in the final week alone — Mr Dutton has not only failed to convince Australia he should be PM but also retain the voters who had supported him for more than two decades.

The Opposition leader needed to defy the polls in the fight of his life but was unable to cut through, with Labor tipped to claim a healthy majority. In almost all the key seats Mr Dutton had to claim to give him a pathway to PM, there were swings towards Labor or independents.

His campaign at times appeared muddled, marred by internal contradictions, policy backflips, candidate woes and late announcements that offered little in the way of a unifying vision to get Australia “back on track”.

His work-from-home policy and nuclear plan had been widely unpopular.

Senior Coalition figures were expected to start leadership talks as early as Sunday.

Party faithful were slow to trickle into Mr Dutton’s election night function at Brisbane’s W Hotel on Saturday, with a little over 200 supporters attending. Media covering the event outnumbered guests for the first three hours after polls closed.

While it was a tough ask for the Coalition to secure another 21 seats to claim Government after one term in Opposition, the result is catastrophic for the party — and thought to be the worst loss since Federation.

The depth of the swings could have the potential to propel the Coalition into a decade in the wilderness. Mr Dutton had been quick to dismiss early exit polls in the last week of the campaign, which indicated a significant swing against him.

It had been Ms France’s third attempt to unseat Mr Dutton, gaining ground each time.

The Prime Minister had made it clear he would target Mr Dutton’s seat — marking it as the first electorate he visited after calling the election in late March.

Mr Albanese then rubbed salt in the wound when he returned on his last full day of campaigning as Mr Dutton made a desperate dash to Western Australia.

The Opposition Leader had spent part his final full day of the campaign in WA — a strategic nod to the State’s significance and a last-ditch effort to claw back critical ground.

In 2022, Labor flipped four WA seats — riding the popularity of then-premier Mark McGowan and backlash over Scott Morrison’s criticism of the State’s hard COVID borders. The win had been enough to pave Mr Albanese’s path to The Lodge.

From the newly created seat of Bullwinkel to the former blue-ribbon electorates of Curtin and Tangney, the Coalition’s chances of securing a pathway to government relied heavily on reclaiming turf lost in 2022.

In the Perth electorate of Pearce, Mr Dutton held his last media stop at a sleepy beachside cafe — a far cry from the bustling scenes of east coast campaigning — perhaps a telling sign he already predicted his dire election result.

Despite earlier pledges that the Coalition would be “the best friend WA has ever had” and promises to outpace Mr Albanese’s 10 visits a year if elected, Mr Dutton appeared to misfire in his WA messaging.

While it was unravelling for Mr Dutton, Mr Albanese appeared bullish on polling day — taking selfies, and sticking to health clinic photo-ops.

On Saturday night, Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was a mistake for Mr Dutton to say he would be happy to host a nuclear reactor in his electorate.

“Ms France was a strong candidate, the Coalition lost the battle on health and cost-of-living policy and Peter Dutton trailed away as the campaign rolled on,” he said.