‘Sliding doors’: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he is Australia’s last chance for salvation

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is set to kick off his election campaign in the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm where he plans to tell Australians he is the last chance to save the nation.

Peter Dutton has declared the Liberal Party “back in town’’ in Victoria as he prepares to launch his election campaign in Melbourne on Sunday.

Mr Dutton told the Sunday Herald Sun that Victoria was “absolutely critical” to Australia’s future and “critical to the next federal election”.

“I am absolutely focused on the issues that matter most to Victorians — as are all members of my parliamentary team and our candidates — and that’s ­exactly why we’ve chosen to launch this campaign here,” the Opposition Leader said.

“I’ve said it before but I really think the Liberal Party, at a state and federal level, is back in town in Victoria.”

In the speech, Mr Dutton will lay out the priorities he will focus on if he is elected later this year. Picture: Supplied

Sunday’s launch in Glen Waverley will kick off Mr Dutton’s bid to lead the country as polling shows the Coalition has the best chance of picking up a swag of seats in Victoria since Andrew Peacock won nine from Bob Hawke in 1990.

Liberal sources said the party planned to target Aston and Chisholm in the eastern suburbs, and McEwen and Hawke on Melbourne’s outskirts.

It will also push to reclaim the lost Teal seats of Goldstein and Kooyong – as revealed by the Saturday Herald Sun.

Party sources said the southeast Melbourne seats of Bruce, Holt and Dunkley, as well as Corangamite on Geelong’s fringe, were also in play.

Mr Dutton will warn this year’s election is the ‘last chance’ to save Australia. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

In a sign of the importance the Liberals place on Victoria, Mr Dutton will be joined at the rally in the eastern suburban seat of Chisholm by Nationals leader David Littleproud and Liberal deputy Sussan Ley, who will also speak to the gathering of party faithful.

“If we win Chisholm, where we are launching this campaign, then we’re a step closer to winning government — just as we want to win other seats in Victoria,” Mr Dutton said.

“Because the truth is, Victorians are being let down by a bad Labor government in Spring Street and a terrible Labor government in Canberra, who are both out of touch with the real challenges facing families and communities.

“We need the right policies and the strong leadership that will ­actually deliver results for hardworking Victorians.”

A major theme of Mr Dutton’s speech with be the contrast between Labor weakness and Liberal strength. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Mr Dutton will argue that this election is the “last chance” to save Australia.

Calling it a “sliding doors” election, Mr Dutton will say the result will determine the country’s fate for years to come.

Mr Dutton will lay out his priorities if elected this year, with easing cost-of-living pressures and building a stronger economy at the top of the list.

“A returned Labor government — in majority or minority — will see setbacks set in stone,” Mr Dutton will tell his audience, saying the past three years had been “a litany of bad decisions and broken promises” that left Australians worse off and the country less safe.

Electing a Coalition government will be “a last chance to reverse the decline”.

“For so many Australians, aspiration has been replaced by anxiety. Optimism has turned to pessimism and national confidence changed to dispiritedness,” he will say.

Originally published as ‘Sliding doors’: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he is Australia’s last chance for salvation