How Albanese is taunting Dutton to win Australia’s vote
Anthony Albanese may have had a stumble onstage, but he and Peter Dutton are engaged in a new battleground of psychological warfare. SEE THE VIDEO
Federal Election
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The hesitation, shake of the head and stumbling admission he could not recall the unemployment and cash rate on the first day of the 2022 election became a defining moment of Anthony Albanese’s campaign.
In the more than 1,000 days since there’s not been one where the Prime Minister hasn’t had those two figures front of mind.
“No doubt they live rent free in his head every day,” a Labor MP says of the numbers.
The disaster created the perception Mr Albanese’s re-election bid three years later would be make or break in the first week, but over the last seven days the PM has suffered only a few stumbles as he ploughed through stump speeches, photo opportunities and tightly managed press conferences.
Starting his official campaign efforts in Peter Dutton’s own north Brisbane electorate of Dickson was nothing short of psychological warfare aimed squarely at unsettling the skittish Liberals who came into this election lacking the momentum the party had been steadily gaining by the end of last year.
For his part Mr Albanese claims he believes the seat is winnable for Labor, but in reality knocking out Mr Dutton is a nonstarter.
Coalition strategists were also left scratching their head at the PM’s next brief stop to the central Queensland seat of Hinkler, where long serving Nationals MP and former minister Keith Pitt has retired.
But Labor sources familiar with Mr Albanese’s thinking say he has always felt there was a chance the party could pick up in the region and believes Mr Pitt’s exit from parliament has slightly opened that opportunity.
Rounding out last Friday with a visit to Bega on the NSW south coast, before finishing in Canberra ahead of a scheduled media appearance the next day meant Mr Albanese visited more destinations in his first day than he had in his first week in 2022.
Though he went on to win, one Labor insider says Albanese had been tracking at comfortably securing more than 80 seats heading into that election.
In the end Labor just got home with a razor-thin majority of 78 seats.
To mitigate the risk of a similarly poor performance under pressure, Mr Albanese has been building up his media appearances and ruling press conferences with an iron fist.
Borrowing a trick perfected by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Mr Albanese dictates a long list of journalists who will get the call to ask a question in an attempt to cut the cross-talk and volume out of the usually rowdy press pack.
He also has a hard stance on no follow up questions, leaving many journalists staggered at their inability to pursue a reasonable line or even clarify when Mr Albanese’s answer is less than forthcoming.
The final critical component of Mr Albanese’s 2025 front-of-camera campaign strategy is his large supporting cast.
At any given press conference this week he has been flanked by Mr Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Health Minister Mark Butler, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong or Trade Minister Don Farrell.
His Coalition opponents believe these senior ministers are used as cover, on hand to step up to the microphone to answer more detail-oriented policy questions – a known weakness of Mr Albanese.
And while he has certainly made use of Mr Chalmers and Ms Gallagher on the finer points of economics, Labor has a bigger strategy in mind.
They are looking to set up a contrast with Mr Dutton’s relatively weak frontbench offering, demonstrating to the public just how deep the experience and talent in the top ranks of Labor run.
Labor’s strategy also involves a key visual cue, with the PM standing up in front of a green Medicare backdrop more often than not in his first week, a not-so-subtle subliminal message to voters about who can be trusted to strengthen and protect Australia’s health system.
Imagery is vital in a campaign, with off-the-cuff moments like Mr Albanese meeting tiny babies, and interacting with children at schools and childcare centres all designed to reinforce Labor’s support for young families.
It’s too early in the campaign for either side to be perceived as sandbagging seats they desperately need to hold, so instead Mr Albanese has visited a mix of electorates as he crossed the country.
He was on the defence in the Labor-held Perth seat of Hasluck, Adelaide’s Boothy and Melbourne’s Corangamite and Lalor, in between going on the attack in the marginal Liberal seats of Sturt in Adelaide, Deakin in suburban Melbourne and Braddon in northern Tasmania.
Aside from stacking it on stage at a union event in the regional NSW town of Cessnock, and an unfortunate gaffe when attempting to rule out a power sharing deal with the Greens, the PM’s week was comparatively drama free to 2022.
As much as the first week was a chance for redemption for Mr Albanese, it was also a test for Mr Dutton, who although has long held senior positions in government, was yet to face the daily scrutiny on the official trail.
In this election the stakes are even higher for both men, with poll after poll consistently highlighting a very high level of “soft” voters – people who may be easily persuaded by a good or bad performance.
It’s the kind of environment where one mistake, particularly if it’s a confidence killer that creates more gaffes in its wake, can cost a party the election.
The Opposition leader’s travel schedule has given little insight into the Coalition’s election strategy, with Mr Dutton visiting almost as many unwinnable seats as he did marginal ones.
Beginning in the city seat of Brisbane in his hometown, the Liberals were looking for a confidence boost after Mr Dutton came into the election on the backfoot after a strong few months from Labor kicked off by a rate cut in February and followed by an extensive suite of policy announcements.
Mr Dutton’s first day on the trail included a tour of XXXX brewery in Brisbane to talk about energy prices, but was then a fairly flat affair with a morning tea stop in his own electorate of Dickson for a commitment predating the campaign, and a lunch with the Chinese community in the south Brisbane seat of Moreton.
His second day on the campaign was also a headscratcher for Labor strategists, with Mr Dutton making three stops in Western Sydney, starting with the safe seat of McMahan held by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, followed by the independent-held Fowler and then Labor-held Macarthur.
The Coalition have no chance in any of those seats, but Mr Dutton’s tour of a brick factory and his visit to the local Assyrian New Year celebrations made for great pictures on the 6pm television news bulletins, which sometimes can be more important than physically turning up to a winnable seat.
Visually Mr Dutton started the week on a three-day hi vis streak, donning the bright orange and yellow to get out into workplaces where he wants to draw a key connection between the cost of making things and the prices households therefor pay.
It was on the third day that Mr Dutton finally visited a marginal Labor seat, arriving in the NSW Hunter region to tour a mining factory in the winnable seat of Paterson.
He then took a detour out to far western Queensland to inspect the floods, before returning once again to his own seat for a politics in the pub event.
In a day and a half in Melbourne, Mr Dutton racked up visits to four Labor-held seats, including McEwen in the outer suburbs where the Liberals are confident.
The Opposition leader then tracked west to launch a candidate campaign in the former Liberal electorate of Pearce north of Perth, before venturing into Hasluck, both seats Labor picked up in 2022.
Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton end their week in Western Sydney, a critical battleground area where the Liberals are hopeful of cutting a path to victory through the outer suburbs, and Labor is desperate to defend.
While both have barely spent more than a single day in the same state, soon the parties will not be able to disguise their intentions, focusing their visits on NSW and Victoria, plus a handful of seats around the rest of the country.
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Originally published as How Albanese is taunting Dutton to win Australia’s vote
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