Dutton's balancing act
As Peter Dutton moves his focus to infrastructure with an announcement in Melbourne today, jettisoning his hard-man image continues to be a difficult task.
Even Amber, the 27-hour old baby Anthony Albanese hugged in a Perth hospital on Monday, had a taste of the kind and cuddly image the prime minister has attempted to project over the past three days.
After three years in the Lodge and six as Labor leader, Albanese is a known quantity. After voters increasingly focused on his faults during his first term, the prime minister is relentlessly stressing his strengths.
One in particular, really: healthcare. As we’ve discussed, Labor believes it can win by centring Albanese in its $8.5 billion Medicare splurge — which it is hammering again and again.
He was at it in Brisbane on Saturday and again in Perth on Monday, and he’ll be at it again in Adelaide this morning.
