Peter Dutton’s rising popularity still hasn’t penetrated the brains of diehard Labor political staffers | Maiden

As the next election looms, Peter Dutton’s rising popularity still hasn’t penetrated the brains of a dwindling band of diehard Labor political staffers convinced he’s unelectable, writes Samantha Maiden.

Peter Dutton’s rising popularity still hasn’t penetrated the brains of a dwindling band of diehard Labor political staffers convinced he’s unelectable.

That’s good news for Peter Dutton but bad news for the ALP.

As it fights the next election weighed down by political professionals who are too young to remember that once upon a time the same was said about John Howard, the idea Peter Dutton can’t win is one of the biggest reasons the ALP could lose. Let’s put that one to bed.

Kirilly Dutton congratulates Peter Dutton after he delivered his Budget reply in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

If a former infrastructure minister, Anthony Albanese, who never held a senior economic or national security portfolio, can get elected by Australian voters who were sick and tired of Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton isn’t exactly disqualified by voters who are underwhelmed by the incumbent. But it was a mindset writ large in the meme blow-up this week, the publication of a “joke” on the Victorian ALP’s Instagram that repurposed an interview conducted by Dutton’s wife, Kirrily Dutton, in 2019. The meme, which has since been removed, featured a photo of Mr Dutton and his wife Kirilly taken from a Courier Mail article under the headline “He is not a monster”. The Instagram post added the line: “Justifying dating your new partner to your friends who don’t like him.” The pile-on was swift.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demanded that the meme was removed from Victorian Labor’s social media. Federal Labor MP Jason Clare said it was “stupid and it was wrong”.

“A family should be off-limits. We’re on the ballot paper, not our partners,” he said.

All true enough, although the backstory to the meme is worth noting. It was 2019 when the “not a monster” interview was conducted, an unforgettable political classic. The family wasn’t off limits then, it was front and centre to repel a political attack that was biting. And that’s why Mrs Dutton was deployed to sing his praises on the front pages. For those with short memories, one of the triggers was Mr Dutton had wrong-footed himself during the 2019 campaign by suggesting a woman running for the Labor Party, Ali France, an amputee, was using her disability as an excuse not to live in the electorate. To be fair, she had suggested she couldn’t find a wheelchair-accessible property. But Mr Dutton’s tone-deaf response appalled many. “A lot of people have raised this with me. I think they are quite angry that Ms France is using her disability as an excuse,’’ Mr Dutton said. The backlash was swift then too.

Tanya Plibersek called Dutton “pea-hearted”. At first, Mr Dutton doubled down. “Dickson constituents believe Ms France’s refusal to live in the electorate, even if she won the seat, is more about her enjoying the inner-city lifestyle,” said his spokeswoman. But by the next day, Mr Dutton apologised to Ali France via a tweet. And it wasn’t too long after that the “not a monster” interview was rolled out to help change the narrative. Proof that Mr Dutton makes mistakes too sometimes, when it comes to political attacks of a personal nature.

As an aside, it’s not the first time a smear campaign against Peter Dutton backfired. In 2001, then Dickson MP and Labor frontbencher Cheryl Kernot blew herself up by suggesting that Mr Dutton was just couch-surfing at a mate’s house during the campaign. “He does not own a property. He moved in with a friend who is an ex-policeman friend of his,’’ Ms Kernot said. She then suggested more scrutiny was needed over why Mr Dutton left the police service and about his time in the drug squad. It was another own goal, with his police files later showing Mr Dutton to have had an unblemished record. The subsequent outcry forced Labor to delay its scheduled announcement of its “GST rollback” policy and a grovelling backdown from Ms Kernot. But as the ALP looks around for an attack on Peter Dutton that will work, it’s a scare campaign on health that may have greater longevity. Treasurer Jim Chalmers dropped a big hint just before Christmas that the scare campaign is all about Medicare.

“We know that Peter Dutton came after Medicare last time,’’ he said. And for those who have forgotten, he’s right. It was Peter Dutton that spearheaded the introduction of a $7 co-payment when he was health minister. The proposal was designed to send a “price signal” to patients to avoid unnecessary visits to the doctor.

“We can’t pretend, like Labor, that these services can be provided to everybody for free,” said Mr Dutton. “That would be the cheap and easy option.”

The proposal sparked a huge backlash and a mutiny in the party room.

The ensuing controversy dragged on for months before it was declared dead, buried and cremated.

Expect it to be exhumed ahead of this year’s election in a big way. 

Originally published as Peter Dutton’s rising popularity still hasn’t penetrated the brains of diehard Labor political staffers | Maiden