James Campbell: Labor has just realised it has a Peter Dutton problem

The real reason Labor is trying to frame Peter Dutton as “the most divisive leader of a major political party in Australia’s modern history” is because new polling shows it has no choice.

If you want to know why Jim Chalmers and his comrades have decided they need to attack Peter Dutton as “the most divisive leader of a major political party in Australia’s modern history” have a look at the latest Essential Media poll.

On Monday night the Treasurer took time out from an otherwise anodyne speech about how great John Curtin was back in WWII, to warn the Opposition Leader is “deliberately, almost pathologically” devoted to stoking division in Australian society.

“This is worse than disappointing, it is dangerous,” Chalmers warned.

Within hours ministers had taken to the airwaves on Tuesday to back him in.

The ostensible reason for the onslaught on Dutton’s political character was the Opposition Leader’s recent statement that Australia should not be admitting people from Gaza and his decision to devote the last two weeks in parliament to questioning what security checks had been done on the 2,922 Palestinians granted visas since last October.

But that was only the trigger.

The real reason Labor is going after Dutton’s character is because polling shows it has no choice.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and his colleagues, have upped their attacks on Dutton. Picture: John Gass

It wasn’t just unfortunate timing for the Government that in the very same news cycle as Chalmers’ attack on Dutton’s Gaza policy landed, Essential – a Labor friendly pollster – found 44 per cent of Australians agree with Dutton’s call while only 30 per cent disagree.

That poll makes it clear why this attack is necessary

Worryingly for the Government, almost 1-in-3 Labor voters back Dutton on Gaza, while less than half of them think he has got it wrong.

Losing the argument about the rights and wrongs of an issue is bad enough for a Government.

But there’s actually worse than that for Labor in this Essential poll, news which explains why ministers have decided they need to play-the-man.

According to Essential not only do the public think Dutton has got Gaza right they also think he is doing what he is doing for the right reasons.

Asked if Dutton “genuinely cares about national security” or whether “he is more interested in driving division for political purposes,” a clear majority — 54 per cent — opted for the former, including more than a third Labor voters.

It seems voters aren’t as upset by Dutton’s Gaza policy as Labor is. Picture: Getty

In other words too many people for Labor’s comfort think that even when Dutton is wrong, he says what he says because that’s what he genuinely believes.

This probably also explains why Essential has had his net approval hovering around positive territory for months while Albo’s has been in the dunny since the Voice hit the fence last October.

Once you understand that, you can see why Chalmers’ attack on Dutton wasn’t made in passing, but the start of a campaign that will run until the next election.

It’s clear now that this fight is not going to be just about the two sides’ policies.

It has become vital to Labor’s chances of being re-elected that Australians come to see Dutton as a man who creates division, “not by accident” because he believes he’s doing the right thing, but “by choice” because it as Chalmers alleges “it is the only plank in his political platform.”

Originally published as James Campbell: Labor has just realised it has a Peter Dutton problem