Labor is ramping up its attack on Peter Dutton as too divisive to lead Australia, but the signs are that voters aren’t buying the government’s message.
Labor ministers from Anthony Albanese on down piled on to the opposition leader, who many in government still believe is unelectable. They’re wrong.
Dutton’s political tactics and steadily improving polling numbers have the government spooked; he is living rent-free in the minds of senior government ministers, as proved byThe decision signalled that at a time when the community is bitterly divided over the war in Gaza, and with Labor still licking its wounds after the defeat of the Voice to parliament referendum, the government is so afraid to pick a fight with Dutton, that it would rather fold than fight.
This masthead spoke to eight current Coalition MPs, four Labor MPs and three current and former political strategists, some on the record and some off the record as they were not authorised to speak publicly, to gauge their views on Dutton’s political strategy. Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume strongly denies Dutton has pursued a strategy of division to reap electoral gain, arguing he took the time to build a level of trust with colleagues when he became leader and since then has chosen his battles wisely, while working with the government to pass other laws.Referring to the Voice to parliament, Hume says Dutton has “kept his eye on the ball, on what is important to people, he doesn’t talk about what isn’t important to them”.
So dire has the situation become, this person says, the Coalition is now war gaming whether a spooked Labor will seek a circuit breaker moment like the changes to the stage three tax cuts – such as promising big changes to capital gains tax or negative gearing.“I think that’s what they’ll do and they’ll take to the polls and point to John Howard and the GST in 1998. But we are ready for that.”
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