Why the Opposition Leader Cannot Be Trusted with Australia’s Future
By Sue Barrett
As Michelle Pini highlights in Independent Australia’s ongoing list, ’85 Reasons Why Dutton Shouldn’t Be PM (and Counting)’ – see link below – many Australians are paying attention – but many more need to, especially given worrying parallels with political developments in the United States. Clearly, the alarm raised in Michell’s article and mine here are not isolated; voices across independent media echo similar concerns about Dutton’s suitability for leadership.
By 24 February 2025, Peter Dutton’s deceptive political dance has become a dizzying spectacle of backflips, sidesteps, and broken promises – a man desperate to emulate Donald Trump’s brash populism while undermining the Labor government and Community Independents. Over the past three months alone, the Opposition Leader has demonstrated a pattern of inconsistency and opportunism that should alarm every Australian. From immigration to cost-of-living relief, nuclear energy to public service cuts, Dutton’s rhetoric is a house of cards – bold until the winds of scrutiny blow.
Here’s why he cannot be trusted to lead our nation, and why we must resist his ascent with the same vigilance shown by Germans during recent elections against the creeping influence of figures like Elon Musk and Trump.
A Trail of Broken Promises
Consider Dutton’s stance on immigration. In May 2024, during his budget reply, he publicly committed to reducing net migration to 160,000 annually as a solution for housing and cost-of-living pressures (Australian Parliament Hansard, May 2024). However, by December, Dutton stated that the Coalition would defer finalising its migration targets until after the election, as reported by major news outlets such as ABC News and The Guardian, highlighting concerns about his consistency on this critical issue. Social media users on X branded it “lying and squirming,” while @austin_gg noted he’d entirely “walked back” the pledge by February 2025. This isn’t leadership – it’s a bait-and-switch, a Trumpian tactic of tossing red meat to voters only to withdraw it when pressed for details.
Then there’s cost-of-living relief. Dutton portrays himself as the working Australian’s saviour, criticising Labor’s economic stewardship. Yet, when push came to shove, he opposed every practical measure – energy rebates, tax relief – vowing to axe them if elected. This undermines his narrative of care for struggling families, exposing a man more committed to ideology than solutions. It echoes Trump rejecting bipartisan aid packages to bolster his hardline credentials, regardless of the consequences.
On tax cuts, too, Dutton’s promises evaporate under scrutiny. He dangled relief for middle- and low-income earners, only to pivot by November 2024 – rejecting those very cuts while aligning himself with “elite universities” through higher immigration, as observed by @SimonBanksHB. It’s a cynical two-step: court ordinary Australians, then bend to the powerful – a playbook straight from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s Shadow Looms Large
Dutton’s nuclear energy fixation is another case in point. He promotes it as a cheaper, reliable solution to Labor’s renewable “folly,” yet refuses to specify costs or timelines before the election. Critics label it a flat-out lie = expert analyses indicate nuclear energy is not cheaper than renewables, raising questions about Dutton’s claims. This mirrors Trump’s grandiose but hollow promises (“clean coal” or a border wall), designed to dazzle rather than deliver. It’s a calculated jab at Labor’s green agenda, risking Australians being left literally and figuratively in the dark.
His January 2025 appointment of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to oversee government efficiency, pledging to slash 36,000 public service jobs, mirrors Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – a Musk-backed initiative now gaining traction in Australia with Gina Rinehart’s endorsement. Yet Dutton has not clarified which services might be impacted, raising legitimate concerns about potential consequences for critical areas such as veterans’ services or disability support.
No surprises here on Indigenous policy, where Dutton’s word is unreliable. After sabotaging the Voice referendum, he floated a second vote for constitutional recognition, only to abandon it by December. This betrayal of reconciliation efforts panders to his hard-right base, reminiscent of Trump discarding moderates post-election to consolidate loyalists.
A Divisive Opportunist
Dutton’s Trump-like tactics aren’t confined to policy – they extend to style. He rails against “woke” elites – banks, universities, corporates – while quietly safeguarding their interests. His immigration rhetoric, from banning Gaza refugees to using rhetoric described by Crikey (24 Feb 2025) as echoing Great Replacement Theory, potentially stoking fear to fragment Labor’s support and weaken progressive independents. His nuclear advocacy and anti-China posturing brand Labor as weak, while his Australia Day crusades and cuts to Welcome to Country funding cherry-pick cultural battles to galvanise the right – carefully avoiding broader fights like abortion or gender to maintain appeal to the centre. It’s Trump’s divide-and-conquer strategy.
Yet, despite his tough talk, Dutton’s promises remain intentionally vague – migration details deferred post-election, nuclear costs undefined. It’s a deliberate dodge, designed to keep voters engaged without accountability. This isn’t leadership; it’s deception.
Why Dutton Cannot Be Trusted as Prime Minister
Australia deserves better than a leader who shifts positions opportunistically. Dutton’s contradictions – promising relief then blocking it, pledging cuts then hiding the knife – erode trust, the foundation of democracy. As the Guardian warned in January 2025, such cynicism risks a “bad democracy trap,” where disillusioned voters disengage, leaving the field open to opportunists. His divisive tactics threaten the social cohesion Community Independents strive to repair, replacing unity with suspicion.
More concerningly, Dutton’s Trump-Musk imitation risks foreign interference. Germany’s 2024 elections saw Musk’s X platform boosting the far-right AfD, highlighting how billionaires and populists can undermine democracy. Australia’s compulsory voting and robust institutions offer protection, but Dutton’s alignment with Rinehart’s efficiency obsessions and Trump’s playbook invites similar chaos here. A Prime Minister Dutton could risk making Canberra susceptible to MAGA-style populist experiments, potentially influenced by international figures like Musk or Trump, rather than solely accountable to Australian voters.
The Call to Resist
We must resist Peter Dutton, not because he’s conservative, but because he’s untrustworthy – a shape-shifter who manipulates truth for power.
Voting for Community Independents isn’t about perfection; it’s about preserving a democracy prioritising people over populism and governance over grandstanding. Like Germans rejecting far-right surges, we must remain vigilant – alert to cracks where foreign influences seep in, and committed to protecting a system that has weathered greater storms than Dutton’s bluster.
Peter Dutton cannot be trusted as Prime Minister. His trail of broken promises and Trumpian tactics prove it. Australia’s future demands more than a leader who says one thing, does another, and dances to an overseas tune. It demands us – awake, engaged, and resolute.
Onward We Press
Resources
85 Reasons why Dutton is unfit to be PM… and counting, Michell Pini 21 Feb 2025
5 Feb 2025: A great link to Zoe Daniel’s National Press Club speech on YouTube. Feel free to give it a like and comment if that’s your style.
Vote Community Independents: Not shit candidates list
- Change isn’t risky, it’s empowering: how traditional voters are reclaiming their voice with Community Independents
- The Smarter Choice: Why Community Independents are the change we need in Australian Politics
- The Movement we helped build: From Ian Macphee to Zoe Daniel
Ian Macphee Articles
Our Democracy is Damaged – only progressive independents can repair it – 4 Dec 2021
We need independents to check ‘Power Hungry’ political parties – 10 Aug 2021
This article was originally published on Sue Barrett
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The LNP’s history of corruption and incompetence proves we can’t afford another day of their leadership.
Peter Duckwit-Futton is so poor at everything, he has never done a job in public life adequately,, not ONE, and has left behind filthy messes, aided by bowelbrains like Pezzullo, Robert, Tudge, Mc Kenzie, etc. Criminality here demands prosecution, investigation, some justice for victims. Dutton is sub failure, the lowest…and as the worst ever Minister for health, voted so by doctors, it is essential to out this DUNCE.
A handy analysis that might be letterboxed when the time is ripe.
The Duttonator’s recruitment of Jacinta Nampinjinpa Price to deliver his Trumpist agenda began of course with the detonation of the Voice Referendum that in hindsight exudes a putrid whiff of the quid pro quo.
https://nit.com.au/25-01-2025/15910/jacinta-nampijinpa-price-adds-new-portfolio-in-coalition-reshuffle
Little has changed in LNP rhetoric since the Voice except its exclusive focus – Labor at the next election – and the money behind the Campaign.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/10/advance-australia-voice-referendum-no-campaign-income-donations-fundraising
There is a great deal of confidence since Trump Redux, with more than a dash of impunity now, and a tighter grip on its Oz target demographics.
The recent CPAC in Maryland yielded some crude triumphalism (per Michael Koziol, SMH) from the Aussie contingent:
‘CPAC Australia co-founder Andrew Cooper and chairman Warren Mundine spoke on stage during the Friday morning session, in front of an electronic sign that misspelled the country’s name as “Austrailia”. The tiny but vocal crowd audience cheered as Mundine explained the defeat of the Voice referendum.
“What we knew was that Australian people had been so beat up, had been so crushed by the wokes and the cancel culture, that they were scared about voting [No],” he said. “Within four to five months, we flipped it. We gave Australians a voice that they could stand up against this cancel culture … and we won.”’
Albanese’s campaign strategists might attempt a more thoroughgoing political analysis of the crude hooks that underpin populism in order not to exploit the phenomenon but to defeat the vampires and their captives that spawn and feed off it.
P Duddy couldn’t come up with an original idea even after long burst of a Krell brain boost. It would be impossible for the boost to get through the thick layer of Roman conrete that surrounds the two brain cells that sit in the middle of his caveman skull.
“Dutton’s nuclear energy fixation is another case in point. He promotes it as a cheaper, reliable solution to Labor’s renewable “folly,” yet refuses to specify costs or timelines before the election.”
In fact Dutton has released his costings (see link below) and in doing so has managed an absolute miracle by bringing his nuclear in at almost half the price of renewables. Yes, you read that right, almost half the cost of renewables.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/13/peter-dutton-nuclear-costings-coalition-power-policy-plan-australia
Pete:
Yeah, and everyone who’s read that document agrees that it’s as realistic as The Wind in the Willows.
Word is that Ellie Smith Independent in Dickson (Peter Dutton’s seat with a margin of 1.7%) is getting some real grass roots support from the electorate but is unlikely to win the seat but will split the vote.
Ali France for Labor will have her third crack against Peter Dutton in the upcoming election.
In the 2022 federal election, Ali France for Labor secured 31.7 per cent of first preference vote, reflecting a 0.4 per cent swing in her favour. Dutton won 42.1 per cent of first preferences, a 3.9 per cent swing vote against him. After preferences, Dutton won the seat with 51.7 per cent of the final count.
Watch this seat, it could be an upset for the coalition and their leader.
All too true, thank you, Sue Barrett
However, I’m optimistic that Dutton might be beaten THIS TIME, despite the Atlas Network and Vance, which will orchestrate the pro-Dutton propaganda. Because we have compulsory voting, and preferential voting, there is a good chance of a minority government led by Labor. (Not that Labor’s so great anyway, a whole heap better than the Coalition)
One cannot help but notice the RW MSM support for Dutton by careful presentation, but the last week or so…..has required the almost complete disappearance or anodyne reporting of his and the LNP US allies in Musk, Trump, Vance, Putin et al from the news.
Trying to not give ideas to conservative through left voters who are presently running a mile from the right……to vote for centrist governments; Tories in UK, Oz and Canada, plus Hungary etc. are in quiet chaos trying to keep a lid on things….and stem the loss of support….
Short version: Deadeyes Pete has no policies except the same old goal: loot the Treasury.
And now we get to see the return of the LNP porkbarrelling and rort machine again. Oh, joy.
Poider’s…grrr…going to get tough…grrr…on crime. Yawn, when you are the LNP and you have nothing go with CRIME, CRIME, CRIME. How very unsurprising.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-revives-controversial-safety-grants-as-he-campaigns-on-crime-20250304-p5lgr9.html
@GL. Yes indeed, we now “get to see the return of the LNP porkbarrelling and rort machine again“. Trouble is, this time it’s so obvious you have to ask not simply why that is, but what else is coming that won’t be anywhere near as obvious.
Of course the LNP isn’t alone in this caper, as ex-Labor Senator Margaret Reynolds noted today in Crikey:
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/03/05/pork-barrelling-peter-dutton-grants/
“Meanwhile Labor has pledged $10 billion for 50 new urgent care clinics (currently untested as an investment) in primarily Labor seats, which the Coalition has decried as pork-barrelling.”