The Liberal Party of Australia has moved to suppress its internal review of the devastating 2025 federal election loss, a decision that shields former leader Peter Dutton and current leader Angus Taylor from potentially damaging assessments of their performance. The party’s federal executive met Friday and voted against releasing the report, authored by Pru Goward and Nick Minchin, despite calls for transparency from within the party.
The decision, reported by the Australian Financial Review, ABC News, The Guardian and Sky News Australia, comes after months of speculation about the review’s contents. Dutton had previously claimed elements of the report could be defamatory, raising concerns about potential legal challenges. The 2025 election resulted in the Coalition’s worst result since World War Two.
Liberal sources familiar with the review’s findings confirmed that it contained critical assessments of both Taylor and his deputy, Jane Hume. As shadow treasurer and shadow finance minister respectively, Hume and Taylor were central to the Coalition’s economic agenda, which the review reportedly found lacking. Specifically, Taylor’s decision to oppose Labor’s tax cuts and Hume’s advocacy for a work-from-home policy – later abandoned by Dutton during the campaign – were highlighted as missteps.
Hume also faced criticism within the review for comments regarding “Chinese spies,” which sources say contributed to a swing against the Liberals in seats with significant Chinese Australian populations. Both Taylor and Hume are members of the Liberal federal executive and were involved in the decision to bury the report.
The move has sparked internal dissent, with some Liberal MPs expressing fears that the party will fail to learn from its historic defeat. “The new leader and the new deputy never wanted this to see the light of day,” one MP told reporters on condition of anonymity. Three sources within Friday’s meeting indicated the decision was motivated by a desire for a “fresh start,” rather than a specific attempt to protect individuals.
Concerns about the timing of the review’s release, ahead of the upcoming South Australian election and a federal by-election in the seat of Farrer, were also cited as factors. Some within the executive reportedly sought to avoid a potentially costly and embarrassing legal battle with Dutton, drawing parallels to a recent dispute within the Victorian Liberal Party involving John Pesutto and Moira Deeming.
Pru Goward, a former New South Wales state minister and co-author of the review, expressed her “deep regret” that the report would not be published in a column for the Australian Financial Review. She stated her confidence that the review could have withstood legal scrutiny and lamented the lost opportunity for the party to understand the causes of its defeat. “Without reading the report, it will be impossible for future candidates, directors and leaders to determine why the campaign’s obvious chaos, flat-footedness and limited policy offerings occurred,” she wrote.
Requests for comment from Angus Taylor’s office have not been returned. The Liberal Party’s federal executive stated that “what’s important now is that we strengthen our party for the future,” without offering further explanation for the decision to suppress the review.
