Peter Dutton’s decision to admit he was wrong to verbal the Indonesian president during the second leaders’ debate reflects the Coalition campaign's biggest problem.
On Tuesday, Dutton incorrectly said that Prabowo Subianto had confirmed a Russian request to establish an air force base in his country, when in fact it was sources from the president's government who had confirmed it to respected defence publication Janes. It wasn’t a massive deal: Dutton should have just quickly clarified that he misspoke later on Tuesday, or in his daily press conference on Wednesday.
Instead, he waited until the second debate — when hundreds of thousands of Australians were watching both leaders go at it on Wednesday night from the ABC’s Parramatta studios — to admit he made a mistake.
While it wasn’t nearly as damaging as the many weeks it took him to dump his work-from-home policy for the public service, it’s another example of the Coalition campaign not being quick and nimble enough when it matters. Everything we’re seeing is suggesting a disconnect between Coalition campaign headquarters and the travelling party.
