Liberals rebrand Dunkley defeat as opportunity to win federal election, Albanese slams “divisive politics”

The Liberals have branded their loss in a key Melbourne electorate as a “very good” result for the party.

The Liberal Party’s defeat at a crucial by-election has done little to temper the ambitions of party leaders, who maintain they can still lure the hearts of outer suburban voters at next year’s federal election.

Labor easily held onto its outer suburban Melbourne seat of Dunkley on Saturday night, but suffered a 3.8 per cent swing to the Liberal Party.

Speaking to the aftermath on Sunday, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the loss was a “very good result” for the Coalition and attributed the defeat to a considerable dip in the Greens vote.

“If we have a swing of 3.75 per cent at the next general election, that puts Anthony Albanese into minority government,” Mr Tehan told ABC’s Insiders.

“I must say that the feeling last night, especially for the Victorian Liberal Party, is that we are back.”

If the Prime Minister were to secure a minority government at the next federal election, the Coalition would remain in opposition.

Labor’s Jodie Belyea beat out Liberal hopeful Nathan Conroy at last night’s Dunkley by-election, in an outcome that has been widely viewed as a positive temperature check for the Albanese government.

Taking a victory lap in Frankston on Sunday, the Prime Minister told reporters that Saturday’s result showed that voters weren’t interested in “divisive politics”, taking aim at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s focus on immigration detention.

“I think that some of the comments that have been made in the lead up to this by election have done nothing to advance the culture of politics in this country,” Mr Albanese said

“I don’t want to see the sort of polarisation that we see in some countries – people being prepared to engage in such divisive politics. The way questions are being asked on the floor of parliament – it’s extraordinary.

“Peter Dutton has a fear campaign for everything and a solution for nothing and I think people are seeing that’s the case.”

Prior to 2019, the seat of Dunkley was held by the Liberals for more than two decades and has been viewed as high stakes seat for both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.

By the time counts stopped on Saturday night, Ms Belyea, a community leader, had a projected 52.27 per cent of the two-party preferred to Mr Conroy’s 47.73 per cent.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the Liberals had “their tails up” after emerging from the rubble with a nearly four per cent swing against Labor in what she called “one of the most marginal seats in Victoria.”

“The primary vote for the Liberal Party increased. It was the best primary vote that we’ve seen in about a decade in Dunkley … this is a very positive result for us now,” she told Sky News on Sunday.

Despite being a no-show on voting day, Senator Hume maintained that Peter Dutton was “popular” with the local community, which he had visited “at least five times.”