Dutton's do-over
All the pressure is normally on the government a week out from the budget, but a peculiar set of circumstances has put the spotlight on Peter Dutton.
Jim Chalmers released two excerpts of today's much-anticipated Queensland Media Club speech early to the media — and his choices are telling. Because these snippets focused on two things the government has scant control over: the economic impacts of Cyclone Alfred and Trump’s tariffs.
The treasurer has been pushing a message since the last budget that the world is going through a period of “churn and change” and that the government is the best equipped to take on this new era of instability. Up until recently it seemed that the public was unconvinced.
But now, after his worst month as opposition leader, it is Peter Dutton who will need to firm up a narrative in his budget reply speech next Thursday night.
Labor has emerged stronger from the wreckage of the cyclone, with photos of Chalmers at the coalface in his Brisbane seat of Rankin featuring widely in media coverage. Dutton has not managed to curry such support, particularly after attending a fundraiser in Sydney two days before Cyclone Alfred was scheduled to hit his home city.
