Anthony Albanese plays defence, Peter Dutton goes for jugular in summer election blitz
Anthony Albanese has launched a pre-election sandbagging operation to shield vulnerable electorates, as Peter Dutton wages an offensive campaign targeting Labor, Greens and teals seats.
Anthony Albanese has launched a major pre-election sandbagging operation to protect vulnerable seats, as Peter Dutton wages an almost exclusive offensive campaign targeting Labor, Greens and teals electorates.
Analysis by The Australian reveals the Prime Minister visited or held events in at least 25 electorates since December 1, including multiple stops in key seats, and has conducted more than 28 radio, television and podcast interviews in a summer blitz.
Amid plunging support for his government in the polls, Mr Albanese is locked in a trench warfare battle with the Opposition Leader to win seats in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland that will decide the election.
In contrast, Mr Dutton has visited 24 electorates since December 1, including the crucial central Tasmanian seat of Lyons three times. Mr Dutton, who has quietly shifted the Coalition into official campaign mode, has conducted more than 18 media interviews over summer and camped himself in rival territory during the shadow election campaign.
While Mr Albanese, who has held more than 33 events and media conferences in key seats, is building his pre-election campaign around big spending infrastructure, green manufacturing and housing announcements, Mr Dutton has focused on hyperlocal issues including crime, public safety, small business incentives, community infrastructure and combating anti-Semitism.
The summer campaign analysis shows Mr Albanese is engaged in a largely defensive posture, visiting at-risk Labor seats including Lyons twice, Hasluck and Pearce in WA twice, Gilmore, Paterson, Werriwa, Parramatta and Barton in NSW, and Solomon and Lingiari in the Northern Territory. The 61-year-old has also campaigned in target seats, including Liberal-held Bass and Braddon in northern Tasmania, the LNP-held, Cairns-based electorate of Leichhardt and the Greens-held Brisbane seat of Griffith.
Mr Dutton has ramped-up his pre-election stops over summer, campaigning in Labor-held seats the Coalition hopes to flip including Gilmore, Paterson, Bennelong, Eden-Monaro and Robertson in NSW, Chisholm, McEwen and Aston in Victoria, Boothby in South Australia and Blair in Queensland.
The Liberal leader has also focused on former Coalition seats won by teal independents and the Greens in 2022, including Ryan and Brisbane in Queensland, Wentworth and Mackellar in NSW, and Kooyong in Victoria. Mr Dutton has also visited the Liberal-held seats of Bradfield and Wannon, which are under threat from challenges by teal independents.
While Mr Dutton has made 8 visits to Victorian electorates the Coalition are hoping to win, Mr Albanese has shifted attention to NSW and WA in recent weeks.
The Coalition’s pathway to election victory is being built on flipping Labor seats in the outer-suburbs and regional centres, and winning back some Liberal seats lost to the teals.
Mr Dutton, who aims to win a swathe of seats across all states and the Northern Territory by targeting Labor’s handling of the inflation and cost-of-living crisis, is finalising election policies addressing housing pressures, soaring energy bills, national security vulnerabilities and flatlining economic growth.
ALP strategists and MPs, some who will lose their seats at the election, believe Mr Albanese must save the furniture and hold gains made in 2022. While the Liberals and Nationals could lose a handful of seats, Labor is bracing for bigger losses across the board.
Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton are borrowing campaign strategies embraced by Donald Trump, which means more podcasts, social media posts and TikTok videos than Australians have ever seen. The fight to woo younger, disillusioned Australians and women is underway.
Both leaders have held campaign-style rallies and announced policies over summer, as ALP and Coalition strategists accelerate election preparations, establish HQs and finalise policies.
In an address to the party faithful rally in Sydney’s West Ryde to launch the Liberals’ Bennelong, Parramatta and Reid campaigns, Mr Dutton on Tuesday declared that “we can win the next election”.
“If you consider what will happen if there is no change at the next election, it’s a daunting proposition. If Labor is returned, it can only be in minority form,” Mr Dutton said.
“A vote for a teal, or a vote for a Green, ultimately, at this election, is going to be a vote for Anthony Albanese. It’s not only about the next political term. If the government is returned in minority form, what they will embed will take us decades to undo.”
Standing alongside Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, Joanne van der Plaat, in Goulburn on Wednesday, Mr Dutton said “we have to win a lot of seats in this election, there’s no doubt about that”. Ahead of delivering a major election year headland speech at the National Press Club on Friday, Mr Albanese has been forced to manage the fallout of ongoing anti-Semitic attacks and the firebombing of a Sydney childcare centre.
Speaking on The Squiz podcast, Mr Albanese on Wednesday said by adopting a “clear vision … I think only Labor can form government in our own right after the next election”.
“I can’t see any path for Peter Dutton and the Nationals for that matter, to get to 76 (seats),” Mr Albanese said.
“Our pitch, if you like, is that we’ve dealt with immediate challenges that have been to us, cost-of-living pressures, cheaper medicines, tax cuts for all … but we’ve also got our eye on the future, on the horizon.
“Action on climate change is an opportunity for Australia. The work that we’re doing in childcare, to move towards universal provision of affordable childcare is a really important change for the country.”
Hung house fear fuels campaign warchests
Voters in key election seats will be targeted in one of Australia’s biggest third-party campaigns, with industry groups, activists, unions and individuals finalising multimillion-dollar warchests.
Dutton’s lunch policy a threat to budget: Treasury
Peter Dutton’s plan to revive taxpayer-funded business lunches would cost the budget $1.6bn a year and potentially far more, according to Treasury analysis commissioned and released Labor.