Australia Coalition put at risk by echoes of Trump

Peter Dutton, the man who would be prime minister of Australia, is one of the hard men of the country's politics. So, with a federal election now set for 3 May, it was not a huge step for him to start road-testing some of the language and policies of Donald Trump.

- Anne Davies

The burly former Queensland policeman courted controversy more than once during his spells as immigration, home affairs and defence minister, none more so than when he wrongly claimed in 2018 that Melbourne residents were too terrified to go out to dinner due to African gangs in the streets.

Since becoming leader of the opposition after the last election in 2022, Dutton has taken the once broad church of the Liberal party - the larger of the two parties that make up the conservative Coalition - further to the right.

The cost of living crisis has taken the shine off Anthony Albanese's Labor government and given renewed force to the Coalition's mantra that they are better economic managers and taxes are always lower when they are in power. Dutton has added campaigning on migration and crime, big cuts to the "wasteful" public service, an end to "indoctrination" of schoolchildren, and attacks on renewable power in favour of his landmark election promise to add nuclear power to Australia's energy mix.

In late 2024 it looked as if the strategy was working, particularly after his success in campaigning for a no vote in the 2023 referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament. But Dutton's nods to Trump since the US election are now looking like a liability as Australians worry about Trump's tariff policy and the economic chaos it has unleashed.