The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the Liberal party lost in the Dunkley byelection because it ran a “very negative campaign” and is “dominated by blokes”.
Speaking alongside Labor’s successful candidate, Jodie Belyea, in Frankston on Sunday, Albanese lashed the negative tone of the opposition’s campaign in the byelection, as well as the huge advertising spend of rightwing political group Advance.
“It’s pretty obvious that a very negative campaign was run by them and their partners in the Advance team … [who] spent upwards of $300,000 on negative, divisive messages,” the prime minister told reporters.
“Australians want to be brought together. We have challenges as a nation, but we have incredible opportunities as well and we need to be positive. Jodie Belyea ran a very positive campaign.”
With about 75% of the vote counted at 3pm on Sunday, there was a 3.6% two-party preferred swing away from Labor in the outer suburban Melbourne electorate – well short of the 6.3% the Liberal party needed to win.
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, on Saturday night described the result as a “strong swing” and “an endorsement” for Dutton’s leadership.
She said voters in Dunkley had sent a “strong message” to Labor to “do something about the cost of living crisis”.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, said if replicated nationally Labor stood to lose Aston and McEwen in Victoria and would be forced to govern in minority.
Shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, repeated the comments on Insiders on Sunday morning. He said the feeling among Victorian Liberals was “we’re back”.
However, some Liberals believe the party needs to roll out more policies.
The MP for the Victorian seat of Menzies, Keith Wolahan, told the ABC that Dutton and his team had done “amazing job holding this government to account” but the “other side of the equation is making it very clear what we stand for and what solutions we have”.
Wolahan said “of course” the party needed to develop more policies, including on housing.
Albanese on Sunday said Labor was focused on governing “in majority”.
“That’s what we’re working towards each and every day. The Liberal party, apparently from their own commentary, that’s not their position,” he said.
During the campaign, the opposition sought to blame the Albanese government for the release of 149 immigration detainees from indefinite detention and the arrival of 39 asylum seekers in Western Australia.
Dutton also painted Labor’s vehicle fuel efficiency standards as a “ute tax” during one of his several visits to the outer suburban Melbourne electorate, which is highly reliant on cars.
Advance, meanwhile, ran advertising focused on community safety and cost-of-living issues. In one ad, it demanded the government reveal if any of the immigration detainees freed lived in the electorate.
Albanese said voters in Dunkley rejected the “fear campaign”.
“Some of the comments that have been made in the lead-up to the days before this byelection do nothing to advance the culture of politics in this country,” he said.
“People have look at the nature of the campaign that was run by Advance here and just shake their head.”
He also sought to contrast Labor’s “majority female” and “diverse” caucus with Peter Dutton’s Liberals.
“When you look at Peter Dutton’s team, what you see, by and large, is dominated by blokes and they keep having preselections and putting up more blokes,” he said.
He said the Liberals faced a test in Monday’s preselection vote for the New South Wales seat of Cook, vacated by the former prime minister Scott Morrison.
“They have an opportunity in Cook tomorrow ... to select a woman,” Albanese said.
“If they do, then that will be a change of the pattern of behaviour that we’re seeing,” he said.
Albanese said Belyea would “carry on and build on the legacy” of Peta Murphy, whose death from cancer in December trigged the byelection. But he refused to commit to a ban on gambling advertising, as the late MP recommended in a landmark report handed down in June last year.
Both Albanese and Belyea identified the cost of living as their key focus ahead of the budget in May.
“I’ve already foreshadowed that we’ll have more measures in the budget,” Albanese said.
