Election 2025: Peter Dutton moves to calm his anxious troops after bumpy campaign start

Peter Dutton on Tuesday hit back at suggestions his campaign had not started off well, declaring it was too early to make any judgment about the Coalition’s performance.

Peter Dutton, centre, visits the Marnong winery in Melbourne to announce the Coalition policy on the Victorian suburban rail link. Picture: NewsWire / Thomas Lisson

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Peter Dutton has sought to rally Coalition MPs nervous about the party’s performance and the drop in the Opposition Leader’s personal approval ratings, assuring those worried that the Coalition had not ­convinced voters of its message that “You haven’t seen anything yet”.

The Australian on Monday revealed internal concerns over the performance of the Coalition, with MPs admitting they believed the party was still lacking solid economic policies while former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said it was clear there was “a lot of work to do” before May 3.

Mr Dutton on Tuesday hit back at suggestions his campaign had not started off well, declaring it was too early to make any judgment on the Coalition’s performance.

“I don’t think you’ve seen anything yet – wait until we get into this ­campaign and you will see more of what we’ve got to offer,” the Liberal leader said when confronted with the critiques from within his own party.

“I will lead a team into the next election, which is experienced and which has the ability not just to clean up Labor’s mess, but to implement our positive plan.”

The concerns from Liberal MPs revealed on Monday came despite what was described by members of the party as a “witch hunt” for those responsible for sharing with The Australian last month their views that the Coalition needed to better articulate its economic plan.

Liberal MPs have also warned that while voters knew they didn’t like the government, they weren’t clear on what the Coalition ­offered.

Mr Dutton’s performance has been questioned by fellow Liberals. Picture: NewsWire / Thomas Lisson

Mr Dutton on Tuesday sought to highlight differences between himself and Anthony ­Albanese.

“You will see the difference between the two parties by election day,” he said during a visit to the safe Victorian Labor-held seat of Calwell in northern Melbourne.

“You will see a prime ministerial candidate who will be able to protect and defend our country when the Prime Minister is too weak to do so.

“You will see a prime ministerial candidate who is able to make the decisions required to get our economy back on track and to reduce inflation to make sure that we can restore the dream of home ownership where the Prime Minister has taken that dream away from Australians.”

He also issued a warning to small business over Labor’s tax agenda, saying the government would “charge you a tax” on unrealised capital gains in their super funds.

Labor has committed to increasing the concessional tax rate on super funds worth over $3m should it be re-elected, with Mr Dutton arguing that business owners who put their businesses or property in their super funds could be forced to sell the assets.

“Labor is going to charge you a tax – levy a tax against your super fund just because the value of that property goes up,” he said.

Despite calls from Coalition backbenchers for the party to lower the superannuation guarantee to 9 per cent, allowing workers to pocket retirement payments, Mr Dutton said he had no plans for such a policy.

“There are no changes to superannuation,” he said.

The Coalition made a blitz of Victorian suburbs on Tuesday, stopping at the outer Melbourne suburb of Berwick, which was part of the Liberal-held seat of La Trobe before the redistribution that now has it captured in the Labor-held seat of Bruce.

Following the issue of crime rocketing to the top of voters’ concerns, particularly in Victoria, Mr Dutton held a roundtable with ­locals who had been victims in recent months.

However, internal criticism over the Mr Dutton’s performance during the election campaign so far continued on Tuesday when some Liberal MPs questioned why the Coalition decide to announce its policy on the Victorian suburban rail loop at a vineyard.

“They didn’t take (the press pack) to a train station, they took (them) to a winery?” one MP asked.

When asked why the location had been chosen, Bridget McKenzie – the Coalition’s infrastructure spokeswoman – said she went where she was told to go.

“I was told by the advancers that you guys wanted this,” she said, when presented with the confusion of the press pack.

Liberal MPs also criticised Mr Dutton for spending what was almost an entire afternoon sitting at an Assyrian new year’s festival in Fairfield on Sunday.

“What was it, like two, three hours? It was probably not the best use of the leader’s time,” one MP said.

Mr Dutton refused to respond to criticism over his declaration on Monday that should he become prime minister, he would opt to live at harbourside Kirribilli in Sydney rather than The Lodge in Canberra.

“The Victorians I’ve spoken to have just had a gut full of the Allan (Labor) government, the extra taxes that Labor applies, the money that they spend, they always rack up debt, and it’s exactly what’s happening at a federal level,” he said, when asked about views from people in Melbourne that he should reside at The Lodge.