Dozens of Liberal staffers lose their jobs after Scott Morrison defeated

While the Labor faction are celebrating, dozens of staffers who threw their lot in with the Liberals are now facing unemployment.

Tears were spotted at the Liberal party room function being held on Saturday night as attendees came to the slow realisation that there was no way they could win the federal election.

And the crying and sombreness is no wonder, with dozens of Liberal supporters now out of a job after Scott Morrison’s ousting.

A source familiar with the matter said that for every Liberal MP who was booted from their seat, between three and five staff members would also be facing unemployment.

And for every Liberal who held a ministerial position, they are now having to shed staff as well.

Each government minister had between 10 and 15 people working under them, according to the insider, which is no longer necessary as they are not on the winning side of politics.

The Prime Minister’s own office had at least 25 staff members, news.com.au understands, who will be largely redundant now.

One person said it was disappointing so many people were losing jobs when they had “poured their heart and soul into this”.

A person who worked in an outgoing minister’s office confirmed to news.com.au at the Liberal HQ function that they would have to start looking for another job.

They had been in their role for around a year and always knew this was a possibility.

“Politics is a dirty game”, they said.

A woman appears to be holding back tears at the Liberal party election night. Picture: Jason Edwards

Liberal supporters looked on at the election results morosely. Picture: Jason Edwards

Some long-time Liberal MPs were no doubt left shocked when their safe seats were taken from them by the so-called “teal independents”, leaving them and their staff jobless.

For instnance, independent Zoe Daniel defeated Tim Wilson in the Liberal stronghold of Goldstein, Allegra Spender beat Dave Sharma in Wentworth and Kylea Tink won the seat of North Sydney from Trent Zimmerman.

Perhaps most shocking was the seat of Kooyong in Melbourne, a Liberal heartland and the seat of federal treasurer and deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Josh Frydenberg.

Teal independent Dr Monique Ryan won the seat of Kooyong in a shocking twist.

When asked by news.com.au what Mr Frydenberg might do now, another Liberal insider said “not politics that’s for sure”.

Dozens, if not hundreds, need to start looking for new jobs. Picture: Jason Edwards

Media were ushered away at one point as a sombre mood took over the room. Picture: Jason Edwards

There were dire scenes as the election result sunk in around the room on Saturday night.

At one point news.com.au was told to head back to the media section while the attendees commiserated the election result and licked their wounds in peace.

At the beginning of the night, the large hall was sparse, with few people there, sad jazz music punctuating the near-silence and a nervous, muted energy permeating the function centre.

Liberals were already remembering Scott Morrison in the past tense, with one saying in an overheard conversation “he won the unwinnable election, he led this country through the pandemic”.

Several Liberals could be heard whinging that “conservatives are now the minority”.

Smashing glass was heard at one point.

Everyone leaving Liberal HQ now that Scomo has conceded #AusPol2022#[e-mail]/KqO7PrAcmp

— Alex Turner-Cohen (@AlexTurnerCohen) May 21, 2022

Food remained largely uneaten while drinks in hand could be seen in most of the event attendees.

A few people were still wearing shirts of now-defunct Liberal candidates, like North Sydney’s Trent Zimmerman and Wentworth’s Dave Sharma.

Others had covered said shirts with jackets.

Many glassy-eyed attendees wasted no time leaving the event shortly after the Prime Minister delivered his concession speech and left the premises.

“This is shite” one person could be heard saying as they exited while another commented “Well, that was … something”.

A Liberal man with his head in his hands. Picture: Jason Edwards

Going into the election, the Coalition held a bare majority of 76 seats in the House of Representatives out of 151.

However, at time of writing, the newest results showed they have only won 53 seats for certain, while Labor has nabbed 73.

Although some seats are yet to be called, that is potentially hundreds of Liberal staffers who will have to start looking for alternative employment.

News.com.au has contacted the Prime Minister’s Office for comment.

Originally published as Dozens of Liberal staffers lose their jobs after Scott Morrison defeated