Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wounded the feelings of MSM by referring to them collectively as ‘hate media’.
‘I have no doubt in my mind that we can win this election. Forget about what you have been told by the ABC in The Guardian, and other hate media. Forget about that. Listen to what you’re hearing on the doors.’
It harks back to his tweet from 2011 in which he said, ‘You dirty lefties are too easy. Enjoy your weekend.’
This sounds like a completely different person to the Dutton of 2025 and reminds us why so many conservatives were hopeful about his leadership and bitterly disappointed by Scott Morrison’s damaging time in office.
Back then, he really was stronger.
The de-evolution of Peter Dutton is a demonstration of the toxic influence power brokers and panicky advisors have on conservative leaders. He is not the only one withering away. Andrew Hastie is another. It is as if they are fed poison when they get within arm’s reach of power and tamed from wolves into pet poodles to stop them from biting the hands of the faceless men behind the party.
A strong leader loved by the people could reform the party. Nothing scares them more, not even the wilderness of Opposition.
Our democracy is corrupted by vested interests, money, and decades of infiltration by non-conservatives. We are waiting on the better nature of a politician to rescue it while risking their career, finance, and the slamming of doors into establishment parties and clubs. That sort of person comes along once a century. Trump is one of them.
As an example, the old Peter Dutton would have devoured last week’s leaders debate – bitten the journalists, chewed Albanese’s ear off, and smashed out a couple of aggressive tweets to commemorate the meal.
Not so, this time.
I remain awestruck by the embarrassing question asked by the Australian Financial Review’s Phillip Coorey.
‘Probably one of the biggest factors, overriding factors, has been a tendency of voters to associate you in a negative fashion with Donald Trump. Something that’s been helped along by … Labor. What do you say to those voters out there who think you are a light-weight version of the unpopular US President?’
The moment was cringe-inducing.
Although it is not Correy’s fault Peter Dutton has a tendency to stand there like a dartboard while the press fling pointy objects at him.
If he Dutton short on time, he could have taken the compliment.
‘Imagine being compared to the leader of the free world… The man who won the popular vote, the House, the Senate, the whole thing. The Left is almost extinct in America. Trump is a builder, and that is what I will be. No more pandering to the Canberra Swamp. My government is an Australia First government. Get rid of Albo. Get rid of Bandt. Make Australia great again!’
Easy money, as they say.
Although there would have been more satisfaction in ripping the question apart to prove a point.
To win the argument in the long-term, the logical fallacies have to be addressed before answering. Dutton made no attempt to do so. Instead, he validated the claims by ignoring them and found himself fumbling through a trap.
Astonishing for a seasoned politician.
If someone accuses you of stealing before asking why you believe in nuclear energy, you start by debunking the theft because it is designed to taint the rest of the answer. If you don’t, the next headline is, Why do criminals support nuclear energy?
The sleight of hand here was the insertion of unpopular.
Donald Trump is not an unpopular President. Unpopular among Democrats. Unpopular among the parasites of the Big State. Unpopular among the US press. But he is not unpopular among the Americans who elected him. This is a President who easily fills stadiums around the country with cheering, happy voters and yet is criticised by creatures from a political system where the Prime Minister couldn’t fill a pub on a cold day with free beer.
If Albanese was even a fraction as popular as Trump, the Australian press would crown him a god.
With the primary vote of both major parties at their lowest point in living memory, political unpopularity is well and truly an Australian problem.
This reality changes the foundation of the question. It makes a huge difference to the premise if Peter Dutton is being publicly compared to the world’s most popular conservative political figure.
In this light, being compared to Trump is a net positive for Dutton, but by refusing to haggle the point, Dutton allows the comparison to be negative and he tries to deny it, upsetting his base by effectively criticising them.
The Labor Party, ever fans of disinformation, wove this misrepresentation on purpose.
They have enjoyed a long association with the American Democrats but given the Biden-Harris eye-roll-fest and Doge’s uncovering of corruption and waste on a massive scale, Labor has shed America. Dutton could have turned that around on Albanese and shown how his recycled ideas have failed, from America to Europe, and that he is running a campaign based on international policies that pollute the Australian Parliament like a wind turbine in landfill.
It naturally follows that if the association with the Democrats is bad, being compared to Trump would likely be seen as good. Dutton had an opportunity, which almost worked (if he had slightly more character), to build on Trump’s ‘saving democracy’ narrative.
As for whether voters themselves view the association with Trump as ‘negative’, who did they ask?
I asked our readers and my 100,000 followers (I dare say a much larger sample size of true conservatives than the polls), and discovered that not only do a majority of conservative voters view the thrust of Trump’s leadership as a positive, none of them – not a single one – had been asked by a professional pollster.
Peter Dutton should be very careful running scared from the Trump question.
It is not as if he is overflowing with strength, personality, and fortitude. Voters are praying that he might adopt even the slightest bit of Trumpism for the campaign trail.
The real insult was the light version Trump. The skim version. Dutton had an opportunity to pull a few extra shades of Trump in but his problem has always been that he’s a policeman that views the world as one of crime, punishment, and order rather than a businessman like Trump who values capital, freedom, and the brokering of deals.
Albanese has more in common with the heir apparent of the Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez than Dutton does with Trump.
Albanese has been declared the winner of last night’s debate by Channel 7’s panel of voters, which is as meaningless as it sounds. The only issue Dutton came out ahead in was Indigenous affairs, which makes his comments about Welcome to Country all the more idiotic. He should have stood his ground and denounced it as offensive to most Australians, but despite running an entire campaign on strength, he is uncommonly weak on moral positions if there is any danger of an unkind headline.
When the Trump question came around again last night, Dutton dredged up his practised answer which I have transcribed so many times I could almost deliver it for him.
‘I have not sought to be anybody other than myself, and I believe very strongly, based on my experience working with John Howard closely, he has been my political mentor, and I need to make sure we manage the economy as he did.’
I am my own person. My advisors told me not to talk about Trump. Drag out John Howard. The blue ribbons love that.
Except I am the youngest voter that remembers John Howard, and I am in my mid-thirties. There are nearly two generations beneath me that the Liberals desperately need to approach who have no knowledge or love for Howard. Most wouldn’t have a clue who he is. But everyone knows Trump. And Howard hates Trump. If Dutton is playing the numbers game here, he is playing it badly.
To run on personality you have to have an extremely strong one. You have to be a Nigel Farage whose face transcribes to policy positions. These people are not normal and they work at accentuating their opinions.
Albanese is none of these things. Like so many from the left, he is a political hazard grown from residue hidden in the darkest places of Labor’s offices. He wins by misinforming the public about Labor’s plans and distracting ignorant voters with freebies. It’s a handout today and tax tomorrow. With the Greens in tow, there’ll be a heist of your inheritance mixed in.
Conservatives have never been good at this sort of politics. The few wets who tried it remain shunned and hated. Instead, Liberal leaders must embrace the conservative values of merit, freedom, small government, and economic prosperity. Stop shouting about censorship and start criticising what the left actually say. They have to be clear about what Australia is, even though it will isolate some voters. That concept terrifies the party controllers, who mistakenly think there is a magical centre ground from which an election can be won.
The battle-weary know this better as no-man’s land. Anyone who stands there is shot.
Flat White is written by Alexandra Marshall. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
