Labor drums up fight for female vote as Dutton prepares his pitch

Labor is drumming up a fight for the female vote to gain a political edge in the election by promising stronger action on domestic violence on top of policies on childcare and the gender pay gap, as Peter Dutton prepares his pitch to win over women threatening to desert the Coalition in the polls.

A day after the opposition leader said he would soon unveil the Coalition’s domestic violence policies, Labor announced its plans to get tougher on perpetrators by stopping them from abusing women’s finances, while shackling high-risk offenders with ankle bracelets.

The political fight for female votes comes as women shift away from the Coalition in opinion polling.Credit: James Brickwood, Alex Ellinghausen

The political fight for female votes comes as Labor seeks to capitalise on women’s shift away from the Coalition in polling, which has forced Dutton onto the defensive after his work-from-home policy for public servants was weaponised in Labor attacks and blamed for alienating working women.

This masthead’s latest Resolve poll showed female support for the Coalition dropped three percentage points in two weeks, from a primary vote of 36 per cent in late March to 33 per cent in mid-April. A Newspoll published on Tuesday showed women preferring Labor to the Coalition by 54 to 46 per cent, a wider divide than the 51 to 49 split detected between January and March.

Minister for Women Katy Gallagher mounted a gendered case for the government’s re-election on Tuesday as she pitted Labor’s affirmative action rules, which require it to field 50 per cent female candidates, against the 32 per cent of Coalition lower house candidates who are women as an example of the contrast between the two parties.

In Labor’s sharpest attack yet on Dutton over gender issues, Gallagher said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had “put gender equality at the heart of his government and at the centre of his government’s economic policy”, while Dutton considered “women’s policy as an afterthought and women as victims simply requiring protection”.

“After three years in opposition, he has not put forward a single meaningful policy to improve the lives of women in Australia. No election commitments, no women’s policy, nothing,” she said.

Asked about what he was offering women in a press conference last week, Dutton said: “I’m offering them a chance to get a home … I was a police officer for 10 years and I’ve worked hard every day in this job to keep women safe and young girls and children safe.”

Dutton pointed to his 25¢ fuel discount as being “targeted at women who are driving to work or driving kids around … or have a second or third job under this government just to make ends meet. I want to make their lives better.”

After releasing a $750 million crime package on Monday, Dutton also said the Coalition would announce further policies on domestic and family violence. “The incidence of domestic violence in our country is an abomination, and we’ll have more to say about our domestic violence policy, but I want it to stand alone,” he said.

“There’s no more egregious crime in our community than harming a woman or harming a young girl, particularly in a place where somebody should feel safe, whether it’s in their family home or in a car or in a workplace.”

Gender issues are politically sensitive for the Coalition after an internal party review blamed men’s dominance of the Liberal and National parties for contributing to the Morrison government’s 2022 loss.

Dutton has positioned himself as a protector of women and a champion of working families during this year’s election campaign. He has highlighted his history as a police officer to emphasise the depth of his concern for women’s safety issues, while promoting his tax refund and housing policies for cash-strapped families to get ahead.

At the same time, many Coalition election policies have targeted tradies while messaging has focused on the importance of male-dominated industries – mining, agriculture, construction and manufacturing – to the Australian economy. On the campaign trail, Dutton has visited building sites and factories rather than female-dominated workplaces such as care services or schools.

As Labor seeks to seize the political advantage, its new domestic violence policies were included in a statement titled “Labor’s commitment to women” released by Gallagher and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth on Tuesday.

Women and advocates have called on the Albanese government to do more after domestic violence homicides spiked last year. Gallagher spruiked Labor’s first-term record on childcare, parental leave and wages, while saying “we know there is much more to do”.

She said Labor’s second-term agenda would include laws to stop superannuation, tax and social security systems being weaponised by domestic violence perpetrators. The government will also keep trialling new responses, such as electronic monitoring and ankle bracelets on high-risk offenders, intensive behaviour change programs and specialist early interventions for young people.

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