Dutton looks to parlay weakness into strength

Peter Dutton will offer Labor a reasonable alternative to the Greens’ aggressive energy demands.

Peter Dutton appears to be embarking on a new political strategy to turn the weakness of the Coalition in the Senate into a strength by offering Labor a reasonable alternative to “crazy” and economically destructive Greens’ demands.

The Opposition Leader is using the government’s proposed $2.4bn hike on the gas industry in the budget as a test of whether Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers would prefer to pass a sensible tax rise with Coalition support or turn to the Greens and impose a greater burden on gas projects.

The gas industry itself is prepared to accept the $2.4bn hit from Labor as the lesser evil of what could be imposed by Green demands for far greater imposts, bans and limits.

Labor faces a choice of dealing with Dutton on some relief for the resources sector in other regulations in return for supporting the tax in the Senate or having to deal with some Greens’ demands it finds unacceptable.

The political strategy is to paint a more positive picture of the opposition than the government’s “Noalition” jibe while supporting budget policy that helps the economy.

Dutton has cited US President Joe Biden’s dealing with his Republican opponents to expand resources projects in return for removing red tape in his offer to “engage constructively”.

He will demand similar reductions in red tape and approval timelines for gas projects in exchange for the Coalition’s support in the Senate and seek to leverage the Coalition back into negotiating relevance.

The gas industry has called for a bipartisan approach to drive the new tax as it is through parliament from fear of excessive Greens’ demands.

The policy is a perfect fit for the Coalition, which offers some solace to the gas sector while allowing Dutton to be seeking amendments in the broader national interest.

By providing a “reasonable” alternative to the Greens, Dutton can use the gas tax and other issues, such as the $40 a week JobSeeker budget proposal, as leverage for relevance and positivity that Labor seeks to deny him.