Andrew Bolt: Dutton may be keeping his best stuff for the campaign, but time is running short to sell anything bold

Peter Dutton can’t be serious with this performative stuff. He must be keeping his best for the election campaign, and time is running short to sell anything bold.

Peter Dutton must get more serious. Unserious is the Opposition Leader now promising to change citizenship tests to ask immigrants if it’s fine to hate Jews.

Get real. What imported Jew-hater will answer “Yes, it’s good to call Jews names”? And which will tick “No” and mean it, if they just want to be let in? This is just purely performative stuff to strike an attitude while changing nothing.

If Dutton wants less Jew hatred, there’s a dozen things that would make a real difference. How about promising to slash immigration from mainly Muslim nations known for anti-Semitism?

But is this latest headline-grabber just an unserious one-off or a sign of an Opposition worryingly short of deep thinkers? There’s no doubt the Opposition has had some ratty moments lately, just on the eve of the election campaign.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton visits the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty

Dutton’s un-Liberal threat to force insurance companies to sell off some of their business if they don’t give customers a better deal was contradicted by his treasury spokesman, Angus Taylor.

Dutton’s suggestion of holding a referendum to change the Constitution to let governments deport dual citizens convicted of serious crimes was immediately “clarified” by his shadow attorney-general, Michaelia Cash, as just a last option.

Yes, minor hiccups – but big distractions if made in an election campaign. They also feed the impression, highlighted in polls, that many voters feel the Coalition isn’t ready to take over, even if they also think Labor doesn’t deserve re-election.

The Coalition has given many reasons to vote against Labor, but few to vote Liberal instead.

The Opposition Leader now promising to change citizenship tests to ask immigrants if it’s fine to hate Jews. Picture: Sharon Smith

Where’s the excitement? Where are the volunteers busting to preach the good word, like the volunteers behind the climate-crazed Teals?

One sign of a lack of teamwork and ideas is the failure of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the Coalition’s most popular frontbencher in polls, to do anything with the new job she was given two months ago – shadow minister for government efficiency, or Dutton’s Elon Musk.

I feared it would be a tough gig for a first-term senator with no experience in government, and she’d need the co-operation of other shadow ministers – some jealous of her star power – to find savings in their portfolios.

So it seems: Price is yet to announce one substantial efficiency. Sure, Dutton may be keeping his best stuff for the campaign, but time is running short to sell anything bold. Soon would be good.