Liberals can rule again if they take a simple lesson from their defeat – but Taylor’s Trumpian plan strays from the light

‘Almost as soon as Angus Taylor started talking about immigration this week, it felt as though he had ignored the election review’s warnings and was bound to repeat some of Peter Dutton’s mistakes,’ writes Tom McIlroy. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

When copies of the Liberal party’s review into Peter Dutton’s election defeat started being passed around in Canberra earlier this year, journalists could hardly believe what they were reading.

Page after page detailed where the Coalition had gone badly wrong, in often blunt and headline-worthy language. It was not surprising Dutton and Liberal elders tried to keep the document secret.