Peter Dutton hopes to reset ailing campaign with $11.25bn tax cut and first-home buyer cash splash

With three weeks left till the May 3 election, an ailing Peter Dutton is opening up the Commonwealth coffers to tempt undecided voters into voting Liberal.

After an election start that was defined by a debate loss, more questions than answers, and a work-from-home policy backflip, Peter Dutton has hedged his re-election efforts on a $11.25bn cash splash to cajole critical undecided voters to the Coalition.

Speaking to Liberal Party faithfuls, who included former Liberal prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison, the Opposition Leader announced a major $10bn plan to give low and middle class income earners a one-off tax cut of $1200.

Aussies earning between $48,000 to $104,000 will get the full $1200, about half of all taxpayers, however people earning up to $144,000 will benefit too.

On Sunday, Mr Dutton argued Australians needed “immediate cost-of-living relief,” shooting down Labor’s two-year successive and permanent tax cuts which total to $268 in the first year and $536 in the second year.

“Anthony Albanese’s plan is to spend $17bn of taxpayers’ money to give you back 70 cents a day which you’ll get – wait for it – in 15 months’ time,” he said.

“Frankly, Dr Chalmers’s so-called tax cut is insulting.”

Although the spending does little to address Mr Dutton’s other election platform – reducing government spending – he is wooing voters with, as he says, a plan “to get the country out of Labor’s cost-of-living crisis, permanently”.

Peter Dutton used his campaign launch to unleash two high-spend policies which need to turn undecided voters. It comes at a critical point in the campaign. Picture: Richard Dobson/ NewsWire

Another $1.25bn policy aimed at first home buyers would allow tax deduction on mortgage interest repayments for new homes, applicable on $650,000 of their loan, and for the first five years of their mortgage – a critical period borrowers tend to find most challenging.

Singles earning up to $175,000 and joint applicants with a combined income of up to $250,000 will be able to partake, with a couple on average full-time earnings (about $196,000) set to recoup about $55,000 over five years, or $11,000 a year.

The pledge was as much of a pitch to young voters, as well as aspirational middle-class families, with Mr Dutton promising to be the “Prime Minister who restores the dream of home ownership,” a tagline that received raucous applause from his party allies.

It competes with Labor’s plan to spend $10bn to build 100,000 homes just for first-home buyers and open their co-ownership Help To Buy scheme to all Australians looking to get on the property ladder, regardless of income.

Price limits will be extended on homes as well, with houses of up to $1m in Sydney eligible.

For a Coalition ailing in the polls, the high-spending election pledges will hopefully reboot and kickstart their campaign.

The result from Tuesday’s Sky News and Daily Telegraph’s People’s Forum provides a strong clue into what prompted Mr Dutton’s Sunday sugar hit.

While both contenders performed well, a roomful of 100 undecided voters gave the debate to Anthony Albanese.

The Prime Minister scored 44 votes, Mr Dutton 35, while 21 remained undecided.

However, with polls tipping a minority government, it’s telling even the victor failed to woo more than half the room, and it’s the voters who have yet to make up their mind who will be key to the Coalition securing majority government.

Undecided voters chose Anthony Albanese as the winner of the Sky News / Daily Telegraph Peoples’ Forum. Picture: Jason Edwards/ NewsWire.

Heading into the election hump week is also YouGov polling released on Friday which found Labor had increased its lead against the Coalition 52.5 per cent to 47.5 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, increasing its margin by 1.5 per cent.

The result was Labor’s best performance in 18 months, and surpassed the 2022 federal election results which secured them a majority government.

Its primary vote also increased by 2 per cent to 32 per cent, while the Coalition dropped 1.5 per cent to 33.5 per cent.

YouGov director of public data Paul Smith attributed the slump to its unpopular WFH policies and proposal to sack 41,000 public sector workers.

“The Coalition, which only in February was in a strong position to win government, is now struggling to hold onto the seats it won in 2022,” he said.

The week to date: Dutton’s week of difficult personal news

Mr Dutton was also forced to contend with a family emergency after his father Bruce was rushed to hospital on Tuesday, just an hour before his debate with Mr Albanese.

On Friday, Mr Dutton said his dad was “on the mend” and should be discharged from hospital in the coming days.

Speaking to 2GB on Thursday, he described his father as a stoic man.

“He was a great student of Churchill and of military history, and taught me from a very young age never to give in, and I’ve lived by that every day,” he said.

“I hope that I’ve been able to instil it into my children as well.”

Mr Dutton received news that his father Bruce had been rushed to hospital amid a busy week of campaigning. Picture: Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

On Friday, The Australian also reported that Mr Dutton was the target of an alleged terror-bomb plot devised by a 16-year-old Brisbane school student.

The teenager has since been charged and arrested.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Dutton said “my thoughts were always first in relation to my family” after the allegations were first detailed to him.

And while Mr Dutton has retained an around-the-clock security detail since his days as home affairs minister, he acknowledged the impact on his family.

“That’s been the case since I cancelled the visas of a lot bikies, rapists and organised crime figures and I wouldn’t change that,” he said of his security.

“There’s been an impact on my family but they’ve been stoic and have never complained about the security that’s been around me and my family.“

Coalition pedal to the metal on the fuel excise 

While near-daily fuel stops may be shelved for more spruiking of the $1200 tax cut and first-home buyer pledge in the coming weeks, halving the fuel excise has so far been the Coalition’s most popular policy.

Mr Dutton dutifully visited seven fuel stations across six states and territories (sorry Queensland and the ACT) in eight days.

The near-daily trips revealed the prime ministerial hope’s fondness for a crumbed sausage (his go-to servo snack) and a Peppermint Magnum – his ice cream of choice while campaigning in 33C degree weather in the Perth seat of Tangney.

Howard Ong, the Liberal Party’s pick to oust Labor’s Sam Lim, a former dolphin trainer, was also on the trail and went for an Almond Magnum, just in case you’re curious.

The appearances have also allowed media to capture photo after photo of Mr Dutton promoting the Coalition’s petrol policy which will effectively make fuel 25c a litre cheaper for households and businesses, andon average will save drivers about $750 per vehicle for the year that’s it’s implemented.

A campaign pit stop for a servo ice cream. Mr Dutton went for a Peppermint Magnum. Picture: Thomas Lisson/ NewsWire

Complementing the policy was also Mr Dutton’s announcement that the Coalition government would repeal the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard which aims to incentivise cars which aims to incentives car manufacturers to bring more fuel-efficient and low, or zero emissions vehicles onto the market.

The Opposition said the Labor policy would increase the cost of utes and 4WDs.

As Coalition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie argued on Friday, it also “(taxes) Australians for that privilege and you shouldn’t be expecting great companies like Toyota, Ford and other to be effectively subsidising Chinese EV manufacturers and Elon Musk”.

Key policy questions remain

Questions still remain around the Coalition’s other policy areas, including its once keystone pledge to scrap 41,000 public sector jobs, after campaign spokesperson James Paterson said the Opposition’s plan had always included voluntary redundancies.

Interests were piqued by the claim, with the Coalition previously claiming the workforce reductions would be achieved through a hiring freeze and natural attrition.

Just hours after Senator Paterson’s early morning radio spot on Friday, Mr Dutton deflected questions from reporters trying to determine how much money had been budgeted for said redundancies and whether there was modelling around how many workers would take up the offer to flee the public service.

Amid the many petrol station visits, Mr Dutton still has key questions to answer about the Coalition’s policy on public servants, energy and nuclear. Picture: Thomas Lisson/ NewsWire

Asked again he said: “We have worked with the PBO (Parliamentary Budget Office) to look at where we can have an employment freeze and where we have a natural attrition that helps us achieve that”.

Notably neither response included the word voluntary redundancies.

As has been the pattern with the Coalition’s policies, details are drip fed and at the time of their choosing.

Case in point: The revelation this week that the push to get more gas into the grid, and away from international markets would lower gas bills by 7 per cent, and electricity bills by 3 per cent.

While Mr Dutton said relief would start flowing by the end of the year, a question mark still looms over when the full benefit would be felt.

With only three weeks to go before voters take to the ballot boxes on May 3, time is running out for the Opposition to provide the answers.

Originally published as Peter Dutton hopes to reset ailing campaign with $11.25bn tax cut and first-home buyer cash splash