Lower taxes, cutting red and green tape cut, and repairing ties with Israel: Peter Dutton’s vision unveiled
Peter Dutton has vowed to deliver lower taxes while slashing red and green tape, accusing Anthony Albanese of expanding the size of government to ‘exert more power’ on behalf of activists and union bosses.
Peter Dutton has vowed to deliver lower taxes while slashing red and green tape so private enterprise can drive Australia out of the cost-of-living crisis, accusing Anthony Albanese of sidelining key industries and expanding the size of government to “exert more power” on behalf of activists and union bosses.
The Opposition Leader on Sunday outlined his priority policies under his “Get Australia Back on Track” election slogan in the Melbourne electorate of Chisholm. They included expediting gas development, cutting government spending, halving approval times for resources projects, making housing more affordable, cracking down on unions, backing traditional industries, cutting migration and giving more tax incentives for small business owners.
In a sign of the ferocity of the anti-nuclear campaign the Coalition will face at the election, Mr Dutton’s opening speech for the year was gatecrashed by activists and union officials who warned against the energy source while standing in front of an inflatable three-eyed fish.
While Mr Dutton said taxes would be lower and simpler if he were prime minister, and flagged outlining more detailed policies ahead of the election due in May, Nationals leader David Littleproud would not commit the Coalition to announcing tax cuts ahead of the poll. “We’ve got to be able to afford it, and we will do that when we can afford it,” Mr Littleproud told The Australian.
Ahead of Mr Albanese chairing the first cabinet meeting of the year on Monday, Mr Dutton also promised to increase defence spending, lead a national crackdown on youth crime and ensure foreign criminals or terrorist sympathisers do not come to Australia.
Mr Dutton said he would go back to basics on the school curriculum and Indigenous affairs, accusing Labor of being beholden to “activist-driven agendas”.
He also committed to calling Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “in the first days of a Coalition government” to mend Australia’s relationship with the Jewish state, accusing Mr Albanese of being partly responsible for the 700 per cent rise in reports of anti-Semitism.
“Every incident of anti-Semitism 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,” Mr Dutton said. “Anti-Semitism should have been stopped there and then. This government is so morally confused it treats our ally, Israel, like an adversary.
“Moreover, its push for Palestinian statehood at this time would reward Hamas’s use of terrorism to achieve political ends.”
With Mr Albanese opening his 2025 campaign last week by talking up the need for government spending to “build Australia’s future”, Mr Dutton told about 150 Liberal members on Sunday that improving policy settings for business was his way forward.
“I believe the main sources of enterprise and wealth creation are businesses and industries – not governments,” he said. “Australians are best served by smaller government which gets off their back, supports free enterprise and rips up regulation. The Albanese government has had the wrong priorities. It’s prioritised the agendas of inner-city Greens voters, activists and union bosses.
“It’s disregarded everyday Australian workers, families and small businesses – from city suburbs to regional towns to coastal communities.
“It’s sidelined known industry winners – miners, manufacturers, fishers, foresters, and farmers – and picked its own winners.
“It’s built bigger government to exert more power instead of creating better government to empower citizens.”
Mr Dutton will on Monday visit another Melbourne target seat, Aston, and pledge $7.5m for a local CrimeStoppers, with the Coalition believing Victoria is key to winning the election.
Labor cabinet minister Catherine King, who travelled with Mr Albanese last week to Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, said Mr Dutton had “no solutions, no plan, and certainly no plan to help ease the cost of living”.
“We’ve been talking about building Australia’s future, building it for all Australians, seeking to unite the country, to make sure that we actually have the future that we deserve for every Australian, regardless of where you live,” the Infrastructure Minister said. “Unlike Peter Dutton, whose only political tactic is to divide, divide, divide, and to be negative and say no to everything.”
Other speakers at Sunday’s gathering were Mr Littleproud, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Chisholm candidate and former Higgins MP Katie Allen. It was attended by Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin, along with shadow ministers Michaelia Cash, James Paterson, Bridget McKenzie, Angus Taylor, Michael Sukkar, Sarah Henderson and Perin Davey.
There were two anti-nuclear campaign groups outside the event at a community centre in Mount Waverley, including one with unionists standing in front of a blow-up three-eyed fish in reference to a fictional character in an episode of The Simpsons.
Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari admitted Mr Dutton’s nuclear policy would not lead to mutant fish, saying the campaign prop was used for “levity”. He said the unions did research on the messages that resonate with voters and the fish out of The Simpsons had cut through. “Do we really think a three-eyed fish from The Simpsons is the real world? No,” he said. “I think the risk of nuclear is real though … because there’s no safe way to dispose of that material. Unionists are concerned about nuclear power. I can’t yet find a unionist that wants a nuclear power plant built in their backyard.”
Mr Littleproud told The Australian the protest showed the immaturity of the anti-nuclear campaign, while Mr Dutton said it was Labor’s “renewables only” policy that was bad for the environment.
“Labor will continue to carpet prime agricultural land, national parks, and coastlines with industrial-scale renewables,” Mr Dutton said. “We will preserve our environment. Nuclear power allows us to maximise the highest yield of energy per square metre and minimise our environmental footprint. We will have a balanced energy mix of renewables, gas, and ultimately nuclear to replace coal. The Weekend Australian reported some extracts ahead of Mr Dutton’s speech, including that he argued this election was the “last chance” to arrest Australia’s economic and social decline.
Declaring a Coalition government is the “only chance to get our country back on track”, Mr Dutton claimed the character of Australia was changing under Labor.
“The next federal election is a sliding doors moment for our nation,” he said.
“A returned Labor government – in majority or minority – will see setbacks set in stone.”
While the Prime Minister used his humble housing commission upbringing to empathise with voters ahead of the last election, Mr Dutton on Sunday outlined his own personal story of growing up working class, being a small-business owner and a police officer.
“From Grade 7 through to university, I threw newspapers, had a lawn mowing run, and worked in a butcher’s shop after school and on Saturdays,” Mr Dutton said.
“I saved diligently to afford a house deposit. Buying my first home aged 19 was one of my proudest achievements.
“In that butcher’s shop job – and in my Dad’s building business – I saw the hard work required to run a small business.”
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