Gen Z’s blunt message to the Liberal Party

This election marked the first time Gen Z and Millennials outnumber baby boomers and the younger generations abandoned the Liberal Party at the ballot box.

Voting in the 2025 Federal Election at Carlton South Public School. Picture: Dylan Coker / NCA Newswire

Gen Z and Millennials abandoned the Liberal Party at the ballot box in the first election where baby boomers were outnumbered, as the party failed to pitch policies that attracted young people.

As the Liberal Party begins combing through the wreckage of Saturday’s election to identify where it all went wrong, political experts say it is clear the party cannot hope to get back into power without tackling its youth problem.

The Daily Telegraph spoke to multiple young voters across Sydney about why the Liberal Party did not secure their vote.

For many, Labor’s education and housing policies made them a more attractive option.

Angus Fisher, 22 from Freshwater in teal independent Zali Steggal’s electorate of Warringah voted for Labor because their policies were “simple to understand”.

“Having policies like cutting 20 per cent off HECS, the 5 per cent deposit for first home buyers, and building more houses … Labor was the only group that was doing that.”

For other young professionals, Peter Dutton’s initial policy threatening to end working from home for Canberra bureaucrats frightened many, even for workers who would not personally be affected by the change.

Volunteers hand out voting cards next to election candidate posters outside a pre-polling centre in Sydney. Picture: David Gray / AFP

Christiana Smith, 29 from Punchbowl in Tony Burke’s electorate of Watson said an end to WFH would “ruin her life”.

“I WFH primarily, but I’m in the office a few days a week, but to be mandated to go to the office five days a week would ruin my entire life,” Ms Smith said.

“For me with that travel time – an hour and a half into the office – I will get home everyday at 6.30 – it’s dark, I can’t walk my dogs, I’m scrambling for dinner, and then it’s bed and I’m back (in the office) again.”

Australia's Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Patrick Hamilton / AFP

Mr Dutton’s subsequent backflip of his WFH policy only made matters worse.

“Why would we want a leader who retracts what he says?,” Ms Smith said.

For many young voters, they just didn’t like Peter Dutton, the man.

Turramurra resident Will Green, 26, from the Bradfield electorate, said he found Mr Dutton “flat-out unlikeable”.

The traditionally Liberal Bradfield is still in a tight race between teal independent Nicolette Boele and Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian.

Gisele Kapterian is seen chatting at a special event for a Liberal preselection campaign for Bradfield at Lindfield in Sydney. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

“The attitude Dutton had was quite frankly appalling, just inconsistent messaging and very abrasive and flat out unlikeable,” Mr Green said.

“I think they’re alienating a lot of young people, especially immigrants and ethnic minorities.”

Redbridge pollster Kos Samaras said the Liberal Party could not afford to ignore younger voters, saying the prevailing idea that people voted more conservative as they get older “is no longer true”.

“We’re not seeing that drift – baby boomers became a lot more conservative as they got older but Gen X and millennials are a lot more progressive … though Gen Z is the real hit,” he said.

“Liberals are now being pushed out of the cities or anywhere that there is an abundance of Gen Z.”

Mr Samaras said the answer to the party’s woes was not just creating policies that would sway young voters – the Liberal Party would also need cultural change.

UNSW political expert Dr Mark Rolfe said while the party needed to “go back to the drawing board” in terms of policies for Gen Z, they also needed to solve systemic problems around the preselection of women and candidates that appeal to a younger demographic.

“It’s not just an issue of branding,” he said.

Originally published as Gen Z’s blunt message to the Liberal Party