#peterdutton

Kate Derrington on X:

🧵 Lots of talk online about the appalling behaviour of the Liberal volunteers at prepoll. I have been volunteering on the #Dickson campaign for Ali France & here is a snapshot of what they have said to or about our volunteers in week one:

1. Your “peg-leg candidate” (referring to Ali who has a prosthetic leg) isn’t going to win

2. Have they let all the criminals out of jail to help - referring to a First Nations volunteer.

YouGov MRP POLL

Seat share:

ALP - 75

LNP - 60

Queensland is a different state. Peter Dutton, the leader of the Opposition, comes from and represents Queenslanders. The bad cop on the political beat downunder. Many of its sons and daughters are proudly proponents of a white Australia. Especially in regional Queensland, where there is blatant racism expressed by townsfolk toward those not cut from the same cloth. The banana bending state: “Queenslanders voted against the Voice to Parliament — more than any other state or territory in Australia” (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-15/queensland-voice-to-parliament-vote-results/102977008) The rich history of Queensland includes the Frontier Wars: “The Native Police was a body of Aboriginal troopers that operated under the command of white officers on the Queensland frontier from 1849 to the 1920s. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men were often forcefully recruited from communities—already diminished due to colonisation—that were normally a great distance from the region in which they were to work. “ (https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/archives/collection/war/frontier-wars) Lech Blane has written a Quarterly essay on the bad cop and hardman of Australian politics. “Who is Peter Dutton, and what happened to the Liberal Party? In Bad Cop, Lech Blaine traces the making of a hardman – from Queensland detective to leader of the Opposition, from property investor to minister for Home Affairs. This is a story of ambition, race and power, and a politician with a plan.” (https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2024/03/bad-cop)

the fear monger!

The Bad Cop Essay By Lech Blane

The essay draws parallels with a previous hardman of conservative politics in Australia, Tony Abbott. However, it, also, differentiates clear differences between the two macho Anglo leaders. Abbott was famed as a Rhodes scholar university pugilist, whereas Dutton dropped out of university to become a Queensland cop. There are class and defining motivation distinctions between the two. Abbott being more ideologically inspired whereas Dutton draws more upon his practical experiences as cop and property developer. Both men have sought political support from suburban Australia. There they see themselves as champions of ordinary folk, particularly blokes.

Dutton & The Gender Divide In Oz Politics

A gender divide has widened in the political landscape of Australia. More women are voting Labor and Green in contrast to more men voting conservatively for the LNP Coalition and for the other smaller right wing parties. Thus, the emergence of the archetypal hardman to lead the neocon charge. PM Anthony Albanese is not a guy with a strongman veneer. Consensus and, hopefully, taking people along with him for the ride is more his way of doing things. The contrast with Peter Dutton could not be more acute. Leadership does involve subjects seeing the things that they aspire to within the projected identity of candidates vying for the top job. In the eyes of many men, especially younger guys, Anthony Albanese lacks some innate masculinity. Probably for some women this matters too, particularly if they fit into the trad wife category. “Dutton doesn't need to become prime minister to redraw the battle lines of Australian politics. His fight with Albanese over parochial voters was always going to drag the political conversation rightwards: on race, immigration, gender and the pace of a transition away from fossil fuels … Dutton’s raison d’être? Make Australia Afraid Again. Then he will offer himself as the lesser of two evils. A serious strongman for the age of anxiety.”—Lech Blaine, Bad Cop. Dutton, like all neocon politicians going around at the moment, looks to Trump and the United States for insight and inspiration. Ramping up polarisation, with the help of Murdoch’s News Corp platforms, has been the flavour of his Opposition leadership years. It was very successful during the Voice referendum and, perhaps, not so much over the High Court release of stateless illegal refugees. Drumming up fear and outrage is the name of the game for those right wing strongmen wanting to assume the mantle of power. Australia is, however, not the United States, as Australians are not so extreme and not so willing to go there.

Photo by Shuaizhi Tian on Pexels.com Bad Cop Dutton Drumming Up Fear The bad cop on the political beat downunder. Peter Dutton wants Australians to fear the Chinese, as the LNP federal government took us into blaming them for the pandemic and we were rewarded with multiple trade sanctions costing us billions. The Chinese military buildup offends proponents of a white Australia. The US desperately wants to protects its hegemony because without its military superiority its economic supremacy wont last. Thus, we are committing $366 billion to a nuclear submarine program, which is full of holes and serious tributes of our sovereignty to the Americans in return for no guarantees of any submarines. This was a LNP Coalition defence initiative, which has been carried on by Albanese. This has, then, led Dutton to putting forward a Nuclear Power energy policy proposal. This is another $331 billion costed proposal to build 7 nuclear power reactors around Australia. Australia is in the midst of an energy transformation from fossil fuels to renewables. Dutton and the LNP are ideologically opposed to renewables for political reasons. They are firm friends of the coal and gas industries. Prolonging this business is the main reason for the madcap nuclear power proposal. This is because, like the AUKUS submarine deal, building nuclear reactors will take between 20 and 30 years. Therefore, in the meantime, fossil fuelled power stations will be maintained, probably beyond their planned use by dates. In addition, having uncertainty about Australia’s energy policy direction will damage investment in renewables going forward. Creating uncertainty serves the neocon political strategy.

Australia is moving toward a renewable energy future – it is happening and is underway. Yes, there are challenges ahead in this major transformation, which has been inspired by the world’s need to respond to global warming. No serious energy expert or scientist has suggested the nuclear option as a viable part of this shift from fossil fuels to renewables. Peter Dutton and the going nuclear debate is a distraction from what is required within the time framework laid out to achieve net zero by 2050. The last thing that Australia needs now is further delays and time wasting, after a decade of this under Coalition rule.

Nuclear Reactors Not Feasible According to CSIRO

The CSIRO has responded to Dutton and shared its scientific view that nuclear is not a feasible option for the country. The LNP has been unrelentingly negative about renewable energy for decades. Despite this many Australian households have taken up solar panels on their homes and businesses to reduce their power bills. Indeed, we have the greatest take up of solar power per capita in relation to our homes in the world. These households are saving money and know that renewables provide a great technology. The Coalition slagging off renewables is part of a culture war and not based on real facts and figures. Anti-Renewables Driving Coalition Culture War Stance Political parties, invariably conservative ones, which campaign primarily on cultural values and exploit the politics of grievance, do not govern well. In the Australian experience, the LNP did little about the energy transformation and sat on its hands for nearly 10 years. The few big projects undertaken by the Coalition have been costly disasters – Snowy 2.0 was poorly planned and has been bogged down in problems which should have been considered via more in-depth consultative processes. The blowout has ballooned from an original $2 billion to now $13 billion. The inland rail project budgeted at $9.3 billion by the Coalition is now costing $31.4 billion and has met far more complex challenges than foreseen by the Coalition. Most large projects end up costing more money than initially budgeted, but these blowouts are in another league entirely. I would not be putting the building of 7 nuclear reactors in the hands of the federal Coalition, the mismanagement and economic irresponsibility would be frightening. When you get nuclear wrong it is a permanently highly dangerous problem for future Australians for generations and generations to come. Our children and their children will bear the cost for these things on so many levels. If we don’t really need these reactors why would we risk the massive expense and potential dangers unnecessarily? “The boss of the Inland Rail freight link has insisted the trouble-plagued line “is not stalled”, as he hit back at industry concerns over the government’s lack of commitment to the second half of the overbudget megaproject.” (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/10/inland-rail-is-not-stalled-boss-insists-amid-concerns-labor-wavering-on-31bn-project)

The culture wars pits extreme reactionary conservatives against progressives. The war on woke is an example of this, where ordinary folk are encouraged to see efforts in favour of redressing the situation, where those among us traditionally excluded from a seat at the big table, as unnecessary. White supremacists are, of course, big fans of this and in some instances driving this ‘anti-woke’ narrative. Diversity inclusiveness is being pilloried as somehow unfair to the dominant white male cohort within our communities – this is ridiculous. The figures do not back this up in any way. The culture wars and demonising woke play to the politics of grievance.

Anti-Elite Another Right Wing Beat Up

The anti-elitist strategy is another beat up and manipulation by those on the right. Politically, it enables parties traditionally associated with big business to extend their appeal to working class people. This championing of the often bigoted values of non-college educated folk is another false narrative. Blaming one side for all the ills in the politics of grievance debate is further misinformation and deflection from the truth of the matter. The socially progressive policies of those wanting to include those marginalised, like LGBTQI+, women, and new migrants, are demonised by those on the right. Religious groups align with those on the right so that they can defend their right to discriminate against those that do not conform to their religious laws, which were developed many hundreds of years ago. These Bronze Age values were tribal and do not reflect the reality of urban living in big cities in the 21C. We are no longer primarily goat farmers.

Anti-Women Patriarchal Policies Underpinning GOP Patriarchal family values are outdated for good reasons and policies that seek a return to this power structure will not appeal to many, especially women. In the US, we are witnessing hardline conservative think tanks driving MAGA Republican party policy in this regard. “Wealthy right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation has published a detailed plan for the next Republican president to use the executive branch of the federal government to attack the rights of women, LGBTQ people and the BIPOC community, by eliminating the agencies and offices responsible for enforcing civil rights laws and placing trained right-wing ideologues in staff positions throughout the federal government. “ (https://msmagazine.com/2024/02/08/project-2025-conservative-right-wing-trump-woke/) Anti-abortion state policies and laws have galvanised opposition among women across America. Further efforts to ban contraception and limit the freedoms of women, more generally, are on the cards and it is hard to see how these will appeal to voters. The stacking of the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) by former President Donald Trump provides another non-democratic pathway for the imposition of these laws and policies to be enacted at the state level in red states. However, women in these red states are rising up and the GOP are losing seats and representatives on this basis. You can see why Trump and MAGA want to take over the US by a coup or insurrection because they will not win the 2024 presidential election with the policies they have. Indeed, it would be a good bet that the GOP will also lose control of Congress at the next election too.

“Lock Em Up & Throw Away The Key” In Australia, we have a right wing opposition that takes its lead from the US. Their relentless attacks and negativity means they offer no credible alternative to the Labor government currently in charge. Peter Dutton, their leader, seeks to enflame fears and anxieties within the electorate whenever possible. Immigration policy has been a popular platform upon which to sew exaggerated fears now and in the past. Attitudes toward Australia’s Indigenous communities is another area in which the opposition divides the nation via polarising statements. Of course, they have no policies and only opinions on everything. Law and order remains a conservative touchstone, where knee jerk responses to sensationalised incidents of crime reported in the media play well to the gallery. Again, no ideas or solutions apart from locking everybody up are ever proffered by the LNP.