Federal election 2025: Peter Dutton likened to Campbell Newman

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has evoked the powerful ghost of former premier Campbell Newman’s cuts to the public service to peel voters away from the Coalition in Queensland. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has evoked the powerful ghost of former premier Campbell Newman’s cuts to the public service to peel voters away from the Coalition in Queensland.

In the biggest signal yet that Labor will seek to capitalise on Peter Dutton’s promise to get rid of 41,000 bureaucratic positions, Mr Albanese used a rally in Brisbane to warn against “the sequel no one asked for”.

It follows moves by Queensland-based Labor frontbenchers Jim Chalmers and Senator Murray Watt to equate Mr Dutton to the former LNP premier in recent days as Labor seeks to finally make gains in the state.

Mr Dutton and the Coalition have promised to cut 41,000 public service jobs from Canberra — in an election pitch aimed at undoing the expansion of the bureaucracy under Labor.

But 3 out of every 4 new public service jobs added by the Albanese government have been outside Canberra, and at least 40 per cent of positions are in welfare, Defence and veterans, aged care or NDIS agencies.

In Queensland 5500 public service jobs have been added since mid-2022, mainly in Services Australia, Veterans’ Affairs, and the NDIA.

“You’ve seen it before — Campbell Newman revisited is the sequel no one asked for,” Mr Albanese said.

“The Liberals’ cuts would drag Australia back to the days of tens of thousands of veterans waiting in vain for compensation and support they earned serving our nation ignored for so long that some passed away, because their claims were even considered.”

The Coalition has vowed to reduce frontline services, but has also so far failed to say which departments face cuts.

The LNP state government between 2012 and 2015 under Mr Newman reduced the public service by 14,000 positions.

The move proved so unpopular the LNP lasted just a single term in office.

Labor’s hopes of picking up seats in Queensland are largely restricted to the Greens-held electorates of Brisbane and Griffith.

According to LNP and Labor sources the Greens vote has dampened, particularly in Brisbane and Ryan with MP Max Chandler-Mather’s support for the CFMEU also expected to hurt him in Griffith.

Mr Albanese’s rally speech — held at the Cultural Centre in South Brisbane and within the electorate of Griffith — sought to highlight Labor’s star candidate Renee Coffey.

Mr Chalmers described her as being the best “first time candidate anywhere in Australia”.

For Ms Coffey to win she will need to significantly increase Labor’s primary vote in the inner-south seat, with the party coming third in 2022 on the primary vote.

Labor’s mountain to climb is steepest in Griffith while in Brisbane the Greens sit on a tight 3.73 per cent margin over the LNP.

The Greens’ Elizabeth Watson-Brown holds a margin of just 2.6 per cent in Ryan, a seat the LNP is confident of seizing back on May 3.

Originally published as Federal election 2025: Peter Dutton likened to Campbell Newman