OPINION: The government must not get drawn into another battle of personal sledging. An electorate with bigger problems is over that kind of politics.
To invoke former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s rather uninspiring 2007 election night advice to triumphant Labor true believers – namely having “a strong cup of tea if you want, even an Iced VoVo [but] the celebration stops there” – a certain level of caution is required in the aftermath of Anthony Albanese’s victory some fifteen years later.
This is not to argue that Labor should shirk a fight, notably on the Coalition’s economic management record: a failure to produce meaningful pre- or interim-COVID reform or investment as it racked up a trillion dollars of debt, a point forcefully and consistently made by Treasurer Jim Chalmers for years.The ex-cop and political head kicker Dutton is not my cup of tea – taken weak or strong, clearly.
Whatever Dutton’s sins, writing off or indeed belittling one’s electoral opponent is fraught with danger, even if it garners likes on Twitter and makes one feel more righteous. Federally, Labor PMs such as Andrew Fisher were badly underestimated. How, his opponents reasoned, could a former coalminer be elected as the nation’s leader on two occasions, both landslides .
Dutton, leading a divided Coalition, may prove electorally unpalatable outside of Queensland, especially in Victoria, Australia’s so-called Massachusetts, governing at a state level for thirty of the last forty years, the Liberal’s former “jewel in the crown”.Nonetheless, clearly a large proportion of Australians are over brutal character attacks and political rancour. Seeing off Dutton demands Labor adopt a nuanced political approach to dealing with an admittedly hitherto un-nuanced Dutton.
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