PM dodges Australia Day stoush with Dutton, calls him ‘nasty’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sharpened his character assault on Peter Dutton, branding him a mean and nasty opposition leader, as the Coalition ignites new culture wars by attacking Labor’s record on antisemitism and Australia Day in an increasingly personal election campaign.

Dutton revived a political clash over Australia Day on Monday when he vowed to reinstate a rule, scrapped by Labor, forcing councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26, following his claim on Sunday that “every incident of antisemitism” in Australia since late 2023 could be traced to Albanese’s weak leadership.

Albanese, who has promised to “do politics better”, sought to sidestep the vexed debates but escalated a personal attack on Dutton by labelling him “cold-hearted, mean-spirited [and] sometimes just plain nasty” in an ABC Melbourne radio interview on Monday morning.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese castigated Peter Dutton in personal terms on Monday.Credit: AAP

The exchange prompted the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to call on leaders to put politics aside and collaborate on solutions as police investigated antisemitic incidents in Sydney this week.

“There is too much at stake for Australia’s future for anyone to be playing politics with this issue,” council co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said. “Some bipartisan co-operation would be welcome.”

But the character attacks in early January suggest negative personal politics will feature heavily in this year’s election campaign, despite polls showing the economy will be voters’ top priority, as Dutton tries to force Albanese onto his turf by pursuing culture war topics under the banner of uniting the country.

The Albanese government in 2022 allowed councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on any date from January 23 to 29, overturning a requirement by former prime minister Scott Morrison that they must do so on Australia Day.

Dutton, who last month vowed not to hold press conferences in front of the Indigenous flag, said a Coalition government would reinstate the citizenship ceremony edict within its first 100 days of office.

“It will be a sign of pride and nationalism in our country,” he said. “The prime minister sent a signal to those councils that Australia Day didn’t matter and that it was something to be ashamed of. The prime minister doesn’t talk publicly about that, but that’s exactly what he did.”

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, whose council has moved its citizenship ceremony to January 29 this year, said it did so because January 26 was “not a day of unity but of mourning, or survival”.

Australian flags ready for a citizenship ceremony at Melbourne Town Hall on Australia Day in 2023.Credit: Paul Rovere

“Advocating for a change of date won’t resolve the devastating and far-reaching impacts of colonisation, but it does provide a platform for an ongoing and honest conversation,” she said.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said his council held citizenship ceremonies on January 26 but supported “advocating to the federal government to change the date of Australia Day”.

Albanese avoided the debate on Monday.

“My council holds [citizenship ceremonies] on Australia Day,” he said, at a press conference to announce a $3 billion government investment to upgrade the national broadband network.

Dutton said he wanted the country “to be united, not to be divided” – a counter to Labor’s continued efforts to paint him as too divisive to lead the country.

Asked about Albanese’s characterisation of him on Monday, Dutton said: “I think you will hear this every day from the prime minister and from [Treasurer] Jim Chalmers and others because they don’t have anything positive to say.”

The opposition leader has also escalated his attack on Albanese’s leadership.

“Every incident of antisemitism can be traced back to the prime minister’s dereliction of leadership in response to the sordid events on the steps of the Sydney Opera House,” Dutton said at an unofficial campaign launch in Melbourne on Sunday.

His comments reference pro-Palestinian protests in 2023 following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel at which several demonstrators chanted antisemitic slogans. Dutton’s allegation, which was not included in an early distribution of the text of his planned speech, is the opposition’s strongest claim yet about Albanese and antisemitism in Australia.

In response, Albanese said antisemitism should not be an issue “where Peter Dutton seeks to divide politically”.

“I said … earlier on in the interview that Peter Dutton could be just plain nasty. And that’s an example,” Albanese said on ABC Melbourne Mornings on Monday.

“It should be [an issue] where he acknowledges that anyone of any decency opposes antisemitism … Everything is a political opportunity for Peter Dutton rather than an attempt to bring the country together on something that surely we all agree.”

Albanese said he had condemned Hamas’ attack and the Opera House protests in October 2023. He said Labor had introduced new laws to ban Nazi salutes, hate symbols and doxxing; appointed a special envoy for antisemitism; and increased funding for security at schools and synagogues.

“We’ll continue of course to work with the Australian Federal Police and security agencies ... to investigate acts of antisemitism. We call it out. We call it out each and every time,” he said.

Australia’s Director-General of Security Mike Burgess warned politicians last year to “be careful about their robust political debate” as conflict in the Middle East contributed to an elevated terrorism threat level.

Dutton on Monday declared Australia was facing “one of the most shameful periods in our history” as a surge of antisemitism risked spilling over into hate crimes against other minority groups.

Murray Norman, the head of multi-faith organisation Faith NSW, said all religious groups were aware of an unprecedented rise in antisemitism in a “supercharged environment”.

“Antisemitism needs to be called out at the highest levels,” he said.

“We also need to be aware the Muslim community is hurting, the Hindu community is asking ‘what about us’ and the Christian community standing there, trying to see how they can [offer] support.

“We are coming up to an election, and I think both sides need to be engaging with faith communities and remembering that their words resonate ... Politicians need to call out these things, but do some heavy lifting and engage with all the communities.”

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