Federal election 2016: ALP asylum-seeker distraction will only stop the votes

Another day, another xenophobic, racist and heartless scandal ­surrounding Peter Dutton and his views on illegal boat arrivals and the cost of settling refugees.

Another day Labor loses. The focus is not on Medicare and the Coalition avoids talking about the angst in its base about super­annuation.

When Scott Morrison, who happens to be Treasurer and a former immigration minister, held a press conference in Sydney yesterday — conveniently ahead of the ­official release of the “steady” ­unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent during a Liberal election campaign based on “jobs and growth” — he wasn’t asked about his contentious superannuation proposals but was asked about illegal boat arrivals.

The current Immigration Minister also did a long interview on Sydney radio station 2GB and was quizzed only about Labor’s attacks on his “scandalous” comments about refugees being illiterate and innumerate.

And it was another day when Malcolm Turnbull, defying Labor attempts to paint him as vacillating and inconsistent on social ­issues such as asylum-seekers, backed his Immigration Minister, accused Labor of trying to deflect attention from its own problems about David Feeney’s “forgotten” $2.3 million negatively geared house, and sounded like Tony ­Abbott on stopping the boats.

As the ALP tried to focus on Medicare and bulk-billing, an ­appeal to Labor’s heartland and ­female voters, Shorten kept up the attack on Dutton.

Instead of letting the Dutton attacks be handled by third parties from the high moral ground, Labor itself has led the attack and chosen the battleground for two days ­running during the election campaign.

Even Labor’s superannuation spokesman Jim Chalmers, who has made some salient points on the Coalition’s superannuation changes, was pinned down talking about refugees and Feeney.

This all helps Labor deflect the Greens’ attack on a compassionate approach to refugees but does nothing to attract Liberal votes or lost Labor votes to the ALP in ­marginal seats — which is essential for an ALP victory.

Labor can demonise Dutton all the way to the polling booth, but he will end up being a Philip Ruddock “hero” figure for the Coalition, as was the case in John Howard’s ­victory in 2001.