analysisHow the Liberals' loss at the 2025 federal election shows a failure to learn from WABy WA state political reporter Keane BourkeTopic:Elections2h ago2 hours agoSat 3 May 2025 at 10:03pmLiberal supporters were despondent on Saturday night, after significant swings against WA candidates. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)abc.net.au/news/peter-dutton-liberal-loss-failure-to-learn-from-wa-election/105248342Link copiedShareShare articleThe scale of Labor's victory — or maybe more accurately, the scale of the Liberals' failure — surprised many last night.But it shouldn't have, especially not for West Australian Liberals.Because at the last three elections, the WA branch delivered its three worst-ever results.Each was meant to be a lesson to learn. Listen more. Develop solid policies with wide appeal. Rid factional influence from every level of the party.Election essentials:Federal election updates and live resultsHow Labor carved a path to a landslide victoryWhat was the result in your seat? Look up the map of your regionThe numbers speak for themselves.According to retiring ABC election analyst Antony Green, more than a quarter of WA voters switched from supporting the Liberals and Nationals to Labor between 2013 and 2021.Labor Tangney candidate Sam Lim embraces a supporter after comfortably winning a seat the Liberals desperately wanted back. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)And even though about 7 per cent of voters came back to the party in March, that was only a third of the voters who left the Labor Party.As the Coalition comes to terms with its devastating result overnight, some supporters in WA will no doubt be wishing they had tuned their ears to the alarm bells that were ringing out west in 2017, then 2021 — and all over again just two months ago.Post-mortem lessonsThe Liberals' problems were spelled out in the state party's most recent full post-mortem that came after the nightmare 2021 poll.That report found policy development "appeared to rest entirely with the leader" and criticised "ill thought-out policies".“Political parties will at times promote ill-thought-out policies to grab the attention of the electorate, particularly when nothing seems to be cutting through,” was another finding.“It rarely, if ever, works and more often than not it becomes a negative factor.”Similar criticisms have already been levelled at Peter Dutton.Dejected supporters of Tangney Liberal candidate Howard Ong listen to Peter Dutton conceding the election. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)"There's been a lack of policy, and the ones they have produced haven't filled out the gaps, like on nuclear, on gas, or they've left it too late, like defence," a former Coalition minister told the ABC last month. The Liberals chose to mirror some of Labor's promises and had to backdown on others, including changing the school curriculum and ending work-from-home arrangements for public servants. Some seats have yet to be confirmed, including Bullwinkel where the Liberals' Matt Moran says he's confident of victory. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)Labor focused its attacks on how that policy would impact on women, highlighting perceptions the Liberals are not as attractive a political option to half of the population — another issue clearly outlined in the WA report.But perhaps most concerning for the Liberals was the conclusion that: "There seemed to be a policy disconnect from the party's traditional base.""While the message was understood, it had no impact or effect on electors' voting intentions," the review noted.Read more about the federal election:It took just over two hours to call time on Dutton's two decades in federal politicsHave Your Say: What was the issue, policy or event that decided your vote?Federal election map: See a quick snapshot of how the parties are performingWant even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 federal election coverageCatch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on ABC iview and ABC ListenFailure in Curtin, TangneyThat disconnect between the party and its traditional base has been clear in the three demolitions at a state level.In 2017 and 2021, the party's traditional strongholds slipped away with little resistance, and many haven't returned.It's been much the same federally. The Liberals' Tom White failed in his attempt to win the seat of Curtin from teal independent Kate Chaney. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)Curtin, which is blue-ribbon heartland, looks to have drifted further away from the Liberals as a result of Climate 200-backed independent Kate Chaney, despite textbook Liberal candidate Tom White campaigning for more than a year.In Tangney, Labor's most marginal seat in the state and another traditional Liberal stronghold, the Liberals went backwards by three per cent.Moore, which the Liberals had held for nearly three decades, couldn't be prevented from falling into Labor's hands by former Federal Liberal MP Vince Connelly.Labor's Tom French snatched the formerly Liberal held seat of Moore on Saturday, in Perth's outer northern suburbs.The main bright spot for the party was in Canning where Andrew Hastie — who was accused of keeping a low profile on the federal campaign while working on his seat — boosted his margin by 3.6 per cent.If former Malcolm Turnbull-staffer Matt Moran can swing Bullwinkel — a new seat straddling Perth's urban fringe and stretching out into regional WA — it will be another glimmer of hope for the party, although one which had been expected as a bare minimum result.That two of the state's three regional seats in O'Connor and Durack swung significantly to the Liberals was merely what would have been expected, given Labor's unpopularity in the regions over issues like ending the live sheep trade.The sense last night seemed to be that no matter the quality of local campaigns, issues federally had made up voters' minds. Rock bottom?It's an understatement to say the night's results leave the Liberals with some significant soul-searching to do."We will rebuild," pledged Mr Dutton in his concession speech.But the lessons of the WA branch show that even truly diabolical results aren't always enough to turn the party around in a meaningful way.It was not much of a party at Tom White's election night function after he failed to win the seat of Curtin from teal independent Kate Chaney. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)"It's like a drug addict finally realising they have to change," was how the state's Nationals leader, Shane Love, described the conservatives' third consecutive abysmal state election result. It will be up to the Liberals to decide if this result is their rock bottom or ignore the lessons and face further electoral pain next time around.The 2025 election explained:Australia has preferential voting — how do you do it?What do Labor, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens stand for?Here's where the election could be won or lost for the major partiesLoadingPosted 2h ago2 hours agoSat 3 May 2025 at 10:03pm, updated 1h ago1 hours agoSat 3 May 2025 at 11:09pmShare optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Top StoriesLABOR'S LANDSLIDE WINTopic:ElectionsPhoto shows A close up of Peter Dutton on stage. It took just over two hours to call time on Dutton's two decades in politicsTopic:ElectionsGreens including leader Adam Bandt at risk of wipe-outTopic:ElectionsPhoto shows Adam Bandt and Max Chandler-Mather in the chamberLabor gains seats across Queensland, picks up extra Senate seatTopic:ElectionsPhoto shows A woman in a felt hat smirks. What was the result in your seat? 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