Polls show Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese are as unpopular as each other. For a first-term opposition leader, that is a historically good result.
“When you’re on a good thing, stick to it,” was for many years the advertising slogan for Mortein insect spray, one of Australia’s enduring brands. It might as well be Peter Dutton’s slogan too. After all, the way he’s doing his job as leader of the Liberal Party is working out very well for him and his colleagues. Also, Dutton is, like fly spray, in the business of killing: his sole mission is to put the Albanese government to death.
But Dutton had spotted a vulnerability on two fronts. One was systematic, the other resided in his direct opponent. Having served in the parliament since 2001, he knew how difficult it was for any government to receive and retain credit from voters for improvements in living standards. The greatest cliche spouted by politicians in modern times – in a crowded field – is surely the observation that “people are doing it tough out there.
Dutton also made an early judgement about Anthony Albanese. Having observed him as Labor leader after the 2019 election, Dutton saw that Albanese had not once seized the national political narrative in his time as head of the opposition. If Albanese could not – or would not – do it then, when he did not have to deliver on his rhetoric, Dutton surmised he would struggle to do it when he held power.That turned out to be an astute assessment.
He is ruthless about it because he can afford to be. He operates freely in the knowledge that News Corp will always ride shotgun for him. The latest foray intowas ugly but effective politics, with him on the front foot and the government put on the defensive.
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