Very little about Peter Dutton’s campaign makes sense at the moment.
The opposition leader made his first foray into the battleground city of Melbourne on Tuesday, committing to scrapping $2.2 billion in federal funding for Victoria's Suburban Rail Loop and redirecting the money to the Airport Rail Link and other rail projects.
It was a notable announcement for Melbourne — where the Coalition is targeting up to eight seats — considering the suburban loop has always been a highly dubious project, while airport rail is a no-brainer. If Dutton has any hope of taking the dozen seats needed to at least be in a winnable position to form a minority government, Victoria is key.
But the optics, mixed with the narrative, are mystifying.
Dutton — who has still not remained in one city for more than one night, and whose campaign is dominated by very early starts — did not visit anywhere along the proposed airport rail line. He instead chose to make the announcement at a winery north of Melbourne in the safe Labor-held seat of Calwell.
And earlier that morning, the party gave The Australian an exclusive story about reducing the 3% buffer applied to home lending by financial regulator APRA, to allow more Australians into the property market. The problem, joked one concerned Liberal staffer, was that “the national broadsheet doesn’t count any first-home buyers among its subscribers”.
