Victorian Liberal Party releases review of 2018 election disaster
A review into the Liberal party’s 2018 state election defeat has blasted the “sheer stupidity” of figures involved in a dinner between then Opposition leader Matthew Guy and Tony Madafferi, saying it did “enormous damage” to the party’s election chances.
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The Liberal Party’s disastrous 2018 state election campaign has been blamed on internal warfare, financial difficulties, dodgy polling, the coup against Malcolm Turnbull and a failure to sell a clear message to voters.
The internal review by party stalwart Tony Nutt, released on Wednesday, also hinted that Matthew Guy’s infamous “lobster with a mobster” dinner was an inside hit on the former leader, saying those responsible “carry a heavy burden for the enormous damage done”.
Mr Nutt said some party members were “guilty of utter stupidity” over Mr Guy’s dinner at the Lobster Cave in Beaumaris with alleged mafia figure Tony Madafferi, which allowed Labor to negatively define him.
Madafferi has previously strenuously denied he is a mafia figure. He’s also never been charged with any offence.
Other key findings included:
POLLING data used by party chiefs was “fundamentally wrong”, but MPs and candidates were told 10 days before the election they were “about to win”, despite warnings from the pollster about relying on one night’s worth of tracking numbers;
ON the day of the election, 17 per cent of voters did not know who Mr Guy was;
THE spill that brought down Mr Turnbull hurt fundraising, campaign preparations and membership, and 17 per cent of traditional Liberal voters in seats the party lost to Labor refused to vote for them because of it;
THE party’s focus on African gang crime “became a distraction for some key voters who saw it as a political tactic rather than an authentic problem”; and
PARTY members were not adequately trained to use their i360 voter database.
The review, released a year after the election, found the dispute between the party and the Cormack Foundation — its biggest donor — robbed the party of much-needed cash for advertising and campaigning.
It revealed the Cormack court case cost the party $1.1 million in legal fees, while the foundation spent $1.4 million. While Cormack later donated $2.5 million, it came through after the campaign started.
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Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said on Wednesday the legal fight was a “terrible waste of resources” that “did hurt our election campaign”.
While the report acknowledged Premier Daniel Andrews’s project delivery, some Liberals questioned why it did not mention how Labor highlighted its achievements against the inertia of the Baillieu government — in which Mr Nutt served as the premier’s chief of staff.
Liberal state president Robert Clark told members the report provided “a valuable input into the rebuilding and revitalisation of our party”.