The media, and all their highly decorated journalists parading from one channel to the next, are wrong about the Liberal campaign.
Peter Dutton is not comparable to US President Donald Trump.
(Donald Trump doesn’t know him from a bar of soap and thinks Albanese is ‘very good’ – the weakest platitude possible for a foreign peer.)
If we use American politics as the measure, Dutton’s closest resemblance is to Joe Biden – the Democrat candidate whose election failure was so complete it created an existential threat for his party and the wider left-wing movement.
DEI, social justice, Net Zero, the swamp, rainbow politics … Biden might have killed them all.
This comparison to Biden is not meant to imply there is some sort of risk Dutton might wander off into the bush after a press conference or start talking to deceased political leaders.
Dutton is not a doddery person. While he does not say much of substance, he never rambles incoherently. He remains in full possession of his wits even if he is not permitted to speak his mind, and this is what makes the situation a personal tragedy for his political legacy.
The public character of Peter Dutton that we once hoped would save Australia from Malcolm Turnbull, experienced a steady decline ending in defeat. Scott Morrison was a faction wearing a suit, but he did so more comfortably than Peter Dutton and therefore was often criticised personally rather than viewed suspiciously, even though their underlying popularity problem was the same.
Dutton is like Biden because Biden did not run as a candidate – the Democrat machine ran using a human being as a puppet.
At the last election we witnessed the Liberal Party machine run against Anthony Albanese using Peter Dutton to recite lines so bland they must have been drafted by focus groups. If Sussan Ley is selected as leader, that machine will reach sentience and the Coalition will die.
What people found unsettling about the Liberal campaign was actually the personality of the faceless men bleeding through the Dutton exterior.
The disparity between what Peter Dutton probably believed and the words he spoke under the scrutiny of the press, was accentuated with the hesitation of doubt. It is the gap between what a person knows to be true, and what they know they must say.
What is a woman? Do you believe in the 2030 climate apocalypse? Is DEI a violation of Liberal Party values? Are Welcome to Country ceremonies offensive? Are renewables a money-making scam enabled by Canberra? Has education become indoctrination? Are politicians using child safety as an excuse to censor social media to protect themselves?
A politician who fails to answer these questions honestly can never lead the Liberal Party to victory.
The powerbrokers should keep in mind that if the public did not warm to the faint outline of deep state influence, they’re going to recoil at its pure form.
One might even quietly wonder if the purpose of those moving the levers of power inside the Liberal Party is to break it entirely and create an enduring toothless democracy that functions as a dictatorship. An Australia where there is no contest to the rapid transfer of public wealth to mining projects, union-run builds, and favoured technological advancements like Digital ID, SmartCities, and vague AI grants. All worth billions. All above aboard.
Conversations online about the Liberal Party breaking off to join the Teals (leaving the Nationals to partner with One Nation) aren’t really joking in their fantasy. The chatter among genuine conservatives is one of bewilderment.
Very soon we will find out if the Coalition has a future as a movement or as a puppet.
Flat White is written by Alexandra Marshall. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
