Electorates with higher shares of young people tended to favour the left, particularly Labor, according to early analysis done by ANU youth researcher Intifar Chowdhury.

Anthony Ma, vice president of the UNSW Liberal Club, noted that earlier in the year, the party had been quite confident in its chances of victory.

Vice president of the UNSW Liberal Club, Anthony Ma, says the Liberal Party is the party “of the aspirational”, though notes housing needs to be addressed so young people can feel like they have a stake in the future of the country. Credit: SBS

“Unfortunately, this did end up being the worst defeat in our party’s history,” he said.

“But it’s not — it’s fundamentally not.”

‘Alex’, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, thinks the future of the Liberal Party depends on the decisions the party makes over the coming years. “If the party continues as it is continuing, there will be no Liberal party,” they told The Feed. Credit: Illustration by Caroline Huang.

Warning signs missed

Eliza Kingston said she was surprised by the Liberal Party’s dramatic loss because “there was really excellent candidates”. Credit: Illustration by Caroline Huang

“I think we just didn’t articulate our arguments for [our policy solutions] sufficiently,” she said.

“But it’s difficult as a political party to appeal from the youngest of voters to the oldest of voters.”

Jordan Abouzeid, vice president of the ACT Young Liberals, says the group has seen a flurry of people join over the last year because “they’re really excited about an idea of internal reform”. Credit: Supplied

The ‘forgotten people’ of 2025

“Particularly young men.”

Vice president of the UNSW Liberal Club, Anthony Ma, believes the 2025 election result will serve as a cautionary tale for the Liberal Party to build on. Credit: Supplied.

Anthony from the UNSW Liberal Club elaborates that young people have a “white-hot anger” — they have gone to school and university, obtained full-time jobs, and yet are not able to share in the Australian dream.

“Cost of living was consistently the biggest issue for voters in the campaign. Yet what we saw in the last two months was a sort of meandering,” Anthony said.

Jordan believes young people are now trapped in a kind of “luxury poverty” — able to afford a watch or some nice clothes, “but when it comes to the things that really make life tick – when it comes to housing, when it comes to food, those things are becoming increasingly expensive and they’re cutting them out,” he explains.

“If we’re talking within the party, we have a women’s branch, we have a young Libs branch, and I think we have strong communities within the party … I certainly have always felt highly supported within the party as a woman.”

A communication issue in the era of the influencer

While Anthony Albanese appeared with a long list of young influencers and new media brands that engage young audiences, including Abbie Chatfield and Ozzy Man, Peter Dutton’s most notable appearance with a young content creator was an interview with Olympic diver Sam Fricker.

“There has been a lack of bold policy that has moved towards both appealing young people and parts of the broader populace.”

Missed opportunities

But also Australia’s mounting debt, according to Jordan and Alex. Australia’s debt is forecast to increase from $881.9 billion in 2024-25 to $1,136.3 billion in 2027-28, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office outlook – debt that young people will be paying off.

“But we are continuing to stick to a lot of high-spending policies that will result in the debt getting larger and larger, and eventually it’s going to have to be young people like ourselves that pay that off.”

Will the party listen to young people?

“Even though we are perceived as a party of the old and the gentry and whatnot, we are the party of the aspirational,” Anthony told The Feed.

Time will tell if young Australians will see the prioritisation those ‘forgotten people’ once enjoyed.