Dutton pitches battlers against bureaucrats in escalating DOGE push
The alternative prime minister has borrowed speaking points from Howard and Trump, promising to cut “wasteful spending”, curb the power of political adversaries and support households and business.
Delivering his economic pitch to the nation, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called back to the Howard era focus on households while borrowing from the Trump administration’s Elon Musk-led efforts to curb federal bureaucracy.
Speaking at the Shangri-la Hotel in Sydney on Friday, Dutton pitted “battlers” against bureaucrats as he promised to move Jacinta Price's new role of shadow minister for government efficiency into the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio if he wins the election.
“Most egregiously Labor is hiring 36,000 public servants at a cost of $6 billion a year. I've not met an Australian across the country in Alice Springs over the last couple of days who who can tell me that their lives are better off because the government has employed 36,000 public servants in Canberra," he said.
"[But] I have met people who say that their lives are worse off because of the extra bureaucratic red tape."
