Peter Dutton and Michaelia Cash campaigning in the seat of Hasluck: Cash was quick to shut down a policy announcement made by her leader this week. Photo: Michaelia Cash Instagram.
Not long ago, there were more than a few rumblings circulating that Labor might have to replace Anthony Albanese as leader if it wanted to have any chance of getting re-elected.
Those rumblings weren’t coming from inside the government itself but more the talk of punters around their barbecues and drinking holes.
Talk like “Jim Chalmers should be tapping Albo on the shoulder” and “What does the PM stand for anyway?” is the kind of commentary the voting public likes to engage in as elections draw near.
Like I say, it wasn’t coming from the government’s front or back benches to any great degree – at least not publicly.
Publicly, Labor has mostly run a tight ship since being elected despite being a disappointment across a number of fronts.
But who knows how much grumbling against the leader is really taking place?
When it comes to the Coalition, however, that is an easy question to answer.
There is currently, and has been for some time now, a growing – and increasingly public – unease within Coalition ranks about Peter Dutton’s leadership style.
In particular, his want for policy announcements on the run and for floating bold promises without discussing them with his front bench.
We know they’re not happy about it because they’re telling us. In fact, they’re telling the whole country.
It can’t be overstated how big a deal it is to have a party’s leader publicly rebuffed by their own front bench over a policy announcement.
It’s an even bigger cop when the nation is in election mode.
That’s what happened to Peter Dutton this week, and not just once. And this week wasn’t the first time.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton is annoying his own team with policies they hadn’t heard about and don’t agree with. MP. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
What did happen this week was a policy announcement from the Opposition Leader that the Coalition would send the nation to another referendum, this time over changing the Constitution to allow the government to kick dual citizens out of the country who turn out to be criminals.
Dutton went to some length in a Tuesday morning television interview to detail how it was necessary to keep the nation safe.
Within hours, his shadow attorney-general, Michaelia Cash, issued a statement that basically said ‘Nope’.
Her actual words were carefully crafted using the term “last resort” while making it crystal clear the Coalition has no such plans for a referendum.
It allowed Albo an opportunity to make fun of it all, saying it was another Dutton thought bubble that didn’t make it to lunchtime.
The next day, a Liberal candidate in Tasmania, standing next to shadow treasurer Angus Taylor (who confirmed it wasn’t an actual policy option right now), downplayed the idea when asked about it.
“Nobody’s talking about this here,” the candidate said.
This little (big) episode isn’t new to the Coalition.
Remember the Opposition Leader’s announcement a few weeks back that he would pull the insurance sector apart?
The announcement that none of his shadow ministers had heard about before their leader spilled the plan during a media interview, and which was also subsequently downplayed by Nationals leader David Littleproud, hasn’t been talked about since.
And his forced backtracking over just how many days he wants public servants back in the office? Forced by his own Liberal Party grumblings, that is.
Tuesday’s rebuff from Senator Cash and bemused comments from other Coalition members about referendums and deporting dual citizens didn’t stop their leader from dropping another captain’s call or two the next day.
He’ll fast-track the approval process for Woodside’s North West Shelf gas plant extension, Dutton said on Wednesday.
And oh, he’ll also pop a question about antisemitism into the Australian citizenship test.
Yet his team didn’t know about these things and are now actively going about hosing down the fires their leader is setting.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is enjoying Peter Dutton’s ‘thought bubbles’, taking the focus off his own leadership. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
It’s all gold for the PM, who got even funnier (and started invoking the great spoof rock band Spinal Tap and their louder-than-everyone-else’s amplifiers) when asked about the Coalition’s latest policy announcements.
“They just come up with these things, and they walk away from them,” he said.
“Whether it’s referendums, whether it be zone or taxation rates, whether it be the other statements that Peter Dutton makes, where he is like that character from Spinal Tap – everything is up to 11 straightaway.”
Jokes aside, there is something seriously wrong going on with the Coalition’s election preparations when shadow ministers are publicly – and quickly – moving to shut down promises being made by their leader.
Those rumblings at the pub have a different focus this week.
But as they say, a week is a long time in politics.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Riotact.
