Australian federal election 2025 LIVE: Jim Chalmers reveals the two reasons Labor won the election – and exposes major problem with the Coalition campaign

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed the two reasons why Labor won such a historic landslide: voters’ desire for stability and Anthony Albanese.

‘One of the reasons we gained such a big majority last night is that people recognised that if they wanted stability while the global economy was going crazy, then a majority Labor government was the best way to deliver that,’ Chalmers told Insiders.

And that desire for stability amid an increasingly uncertain world found its answer in Albanese, who Chalmers described as a ‘Labor hero’.

The Treasurer insisted he was keen ‘not do dance on the political graves of our opponents’.

But then he stuck the knife in.

‘There was a real kind of darkness at the heart of the Coalition’s campaign, this kind of backwards looking pessimism, which Australians rejected,

‘And in rejecting that I think they embraced the kind of leadership which Anthony Albanese provides which is practical, pragmatic, it is problem solving and it’s very forward-looking.’

And the work has already started.

Chalmers said he had already had a briefing from the Treasury today at 6.45am.

After bombarding almost every Australian with constant text messages throughout the campaign, it seems Suellen Wrightson doesn’t like a taste of her own medicine.

The Trumpet of Patriots leader has now locked her Facebook profile.

Perhaps she is not a fan of being on the receiving end of incessant messages.

Teal MP Zali Steggall, who retained her Sydney electorate of Waringah, has hit out at how ‘vicious’ the election campaign has been.

‘Nationally there were pockets where it was vicious,’ she told Insiders.

She slammed ‘third party actor organisations’ who allegedly sought to undermine many independent candidates.

‘You got a lot of these attack fronts for the Liberal Party with a lot of money from fossil fuels attacking in these communities,’ she added.

It has been a frontbench bloodbath for the Coalition.

Apart from losing the election, delivering Labor a clear majority and Peter Dutton losing his seat, a stream of shadow ministers have also been defeated, alongside up and comers who had been viewed as the future of the party.

Not anymore, unless they make a comeback in three years time.

The shadow foreign minister David Coleman lost his seat of Banks.

New manager of opposition business and shadow housing spokesman Michael Sukkar lost his Melbourne seat of Deakin.

Frontbencher and salt of the earth Liberal MP for Petrie in Queensland Luke Howarth lost his seat.

Those are the fronthbenchers whose parliamentary careers are over, at least for now.

Added to that list are up and coming backbenchers Jamie Stevens in Sturt and Keith Wolahan in his Melbourne electorate of Menzies.

These are two of the last remaining Liberal MPs to hold inner city seats. Also two moderates their defeats have further gutted the moderate ranks of the Liberal Party after teals did the same three years ago.

Outspoken maverick backbencher Bridget Archer (pictured, below) has also lost her Tasmania seat of Bass.

The Coalition only has 37 confirmed wins in the 150 seat House of Representatives.

More will join them when counting is completed amongst the 19 seats in doubt, but the Opposition’s best case scenario is a total somewhere in the mid 40s, more than a dozen fewer seats than it won at the disastrous 2022 election defeat.

Teals have unanimously been re-elected, with likely new additions to their ranks. The only sitting teal whose seat remains up in the air is that of Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, but late counting last night had her slightly extending her lead over Tim Wilson who was attempting a comeback.

The Greens are looking at wins and losses, but the biggest news is that its leader Adam Bandt looks like scrapping home after appearing in deep trouble last night during the count.

As a result his leadership might come under pressure.

The real game in the next parliament for the Greens will be in the senate, where it will continue to play a role controlling the balance of power. A leader based in the senate would make more sense for the minor party.

There’s an avalanche of criticism that can be levelled at Peter Dutton’s lacklustre election campaign.

From his pie-in-the-sky nuclear power plan, to the ill-advised proposal to create an Australian version of Elon Musk’s DOGE, and his pledge to hold a referendum on deporting dual citizens convicted of serious crimes.

It has been a groggy start for many Liberals this morning, as they contemplate the train wreck from last night.

MPs I have talked and texted with this morning seem to think that shadow treasurer Angus Taylor will emerge as the clear frontrunner to take over the leadership now that Peter Dutton has lost the election as well as his seat.

But they have concerns that Taylor’s stewardship of the Opposition’s economic messaging was poor, including during the campaign, coupled with his questionable performances in parliament.

‘He’s not great but might be all we have for now,’ one Liberal MP said.

The feeling is that deputy leader Sussan Ley might be ‘too risky and too loose’ to take over.

Ley is also 63 years of age, older than the PM.

‘But as a woman perhaps that will help us at this time,’ the Liberal MP said.

Ley might be worth considering as a stop gap contender, but it’s hard to think she wouldn’t risk being undermined from day one.

At any rate, as part of Dutton’s leadership team she was part of the failure that played out last night. That has to count against her.

Other options who would involve renewal include defence spokesman and WA MP Andrew Hastie or Victorian MP Dan Tehan, but if they are to emerge as serious contenders ‘it will only become clear in the days to come, not this weekend’, the Liberal source argued.

Hastie is certainly a long-term option seen as capable of winning, but is he ready right now?

Tehan might be too folksy to be taken seriously. One name I would like to throw in the mix is Sydney MP for Berowra Julian Leeser.

A moderate who resigned from Peter Dutton’s frontbench over the Voice, he might serve as a clear sign of a clean out and new direction for the party, which voters seem to want.

But who are the moderate Liberals left in the parliament to get behind him?

Most have lost their seats, both at this election and the last against Teals. It is slim pickings for the Liberals when considering new leaders.

Dutton has largely been a one-man band for the last three years. The dominant figure to be sure.

The lesser names now left don’t jump out at you as natural successors.

Which is perhaps why Taylor is the favourite, simply because he’s the most obvious contender.

But how long will Taylor last if he doesn’t shine quickly after taking over? Liberals have a habit of blowing themselves apart in opposition, especially when times are tough….and these are certainly the toughest of times.

Scott Morrison’s former adviser Andrew Carswell has unleashed on the Coalition campaign, describing it a ‘complete catastrophe’.

‘It’s a complete catastrophe for the Coalition, an unmitigated failure,’ he told AM.

‘This is a party now staring down the barrel at three terms in opposition, having watched the Liberal rump of the Coalition get decimated.’

He said the Dutton experiment had ‘failed’, adding that the new leader had to unite the shattered party.

‘There are some very good up-and-coming MPs and Andrew Hastie is one of those that should be putting up his hand to lead the party,’ he added.