Coalition left leaderless after Dutton loses seat in election wipeout

ABC NEWS (Australia)

While 16 seats are still too close to call, Labor is guaranteed a sizeable majority in the lower house with 85 seats at last count compared to the Coalition's 49.

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00:00The Prime Minister, with a certain swagger, returns to work.

00:07Ascending Capitol Hill, arguably at the peak of his political power.

00:12We've been an ambitious government. We'll continue to be an ambitious government.

00:16But we won't get carried away.

00:18It'll be hard not to. Saturday's election delivered a Labor landslide,

00:23decimated its political rivals and achieved Anthony Albanese's long-held ambition.

00:29I want Labor to be the natural party of government.

00:32But it's very clear that we will have a substantial majority in the House of Representatives.

00:38No majority in the Senate, but Labor looks to have increased its numbers

00:43and may be able to solely rely on the Greens to pass legislation the Coalition opposes.

00:49The Greens are now in sole balance of power in the next Parliament.

00:53A power he's being warned to use wisely by a Prime Minister with policies

00:58determined to implement.

01:00We have a clear mandate to build more housing.

01:03The key is supply. The key is supply.

01:07You know, get out of the way.

01:09The Greens' housing spokesman, who opposed Labor's plans in the last Parliament,

01:13is out of the way and out of the Parliament.

01:16One of the party's casualties on Saturday.

01:19On a night that saw voters reject a lurch to the left and right.

01:24There's a lot of blame to go around here.

01:26And one Senator's directing it all at leadership aspirant Angus Taylor.

01:31The economic narrative was just completely non-existent.

01:35I'm not quite sure what he's been doing for three years.

01:38But party stalwarts say their problems run far deeper than that.

01:43I think as a party, we have lost our way.

01:47We have failed as a political movement to keep up with the values and priorities

01:52of contemporary Australia.

01:53After back-to-back losses, the Liberal Party is now in the grip of an existential crisis,

01:58riven with factionalism and unable to articulate what or who they stand for.

02:04It's a problem that started at the state level and is now being echoed across the country.

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