….for quite a while there!

The cost-of-living crisis afflicting many – perhaps even a majority of – Australians must be very dire indeed if Peter Dutton could evenly draw remotely near to Labor and be regarded as a serious prime ministerial threat.

Yet recent polls suggest that’s a distinct possibility. Newspoll on June 9 showed Dutton’s Opposition level pegging with the Albanese government with a 50-50 two-party preferred split, and the Resolve Political Monitor for the Herald mastheads showing Dutton ahead as preferred PM 36 to 35 over Anthony Albanese.

The most logical assessment of such figures? Australians are indeed hurting – as Dutton has cleverly put it; many Aussies this winter are making the choice between eating and heating – and on any measure, Albanese looks in some danger of being a one-term Labor zero, especially if Resolve is any where near accurate in having Labor languishing on 28 per cent primary vote.

Your ranter-in-residence had come to the rather unpleasant view that all Dutton had to do was scream cost-of-living pressures until the next federal polling day and Albanese at the very least would be pushed into minority government.

You BUGers out there have probably guessed that it’s my strongly held view that having Peter Dutton as PM would be a disaster for this country. I think he’s a lazy, racist, thuggish piece of work and the very thought that he could win the election on cost of living issues, when he and the Opposition have opposed every measure taken by the Albanese government over the past two years to alleviate the plight of average Australians hardhit by rising food and power costs, rent hikes and mortgage stress, frankly beggars logical belief.

And don’t get me started – yet again! – on how he hid behind the No campaign’s disgusting, racist and divisive hit on The Voice referendum. all the while shouting the very childish “If you don’t know, vote No!” over and over again, as if to prove how unworthy he is of being the nation’s leader.

Yet while I clearly don’t warm to Dutton one little bit, I had come to the view that he and the LNP were quite capable of doing better than forcing Albanese into minority.

But then along came his seven-plant, multi-reactor, nuclear solution to this nation’s power needs, as Julia Gillard would say, moving forward.

It’s a deadset election loser and I can’t thank Dutton and shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien and Nationals leader David Littleproud enough for cooking up this nuclear option madness.

They truly hate renewables and this nuclear brainfart is largely designed to dissuade investment in wind, solar, battery and green hydrogen projects, all on behalf of the Gina Rineharts and Clive Palmers of this world to keep coal in the mix as long as they possibly can until these nuclear power plants finally open at enormous taxpayer expense.

It’s an election-losing strategy that has sandbagged the Teal seats for those independents should they recontest and it’s one Dutton, O’Brien, Littleproud and others should continue to pursue with unparalleled vigour and commitment. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Don Gordon-Brown

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