Peter Dutton’s staunch opposition to Labor’s proposed tax cuts paints the Coalition leader in an unfavourable light as preparations for the upcoming election ramp up.
As we shuffle closer and closer to the federal election in May, one issue is at the forefront of everyone’s mind: Cost of living.
With the name of the game being to win votes and generate support, hopeful politicians will want to lean on this issue in their campaigns, finding common ground with everyday Australians doing it tough.
But not every politician is clued in on this idea just yet Even before he formally announced the election on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had already laid a decisive blow against his arch rival Peter Dutton, exposing the Coalition leader in one fell swoop last Thursday.
On Thursday, Mr. Albanese announced tax cuts that will see $5 go straight back into the pockets of average Australians a week in 2026, ramping up to $10 the next year. This move will see Australian taxpayers save an estimated $268bn in the second half of 2026 and $538bn the following year, helping ease cost of living pressures. Mr. Dutton, however, was staunchly against these proposed tax cuts, labelling them a hoax for their meagre size and delayed rollout.
While Mr. Dutton did come with some cost saving measures of his own, they weren’t any more immediate than the prime minister’s. Having poked holes in the timeframe of Labor’s proposed tax cuts, Mr. Dutton vowed to refurbish and develop upon Australia’s gas infrastructure, saying he will pour $1bn into this long term project. By increasing gas storage capacity, Dutton’s proposed revitalisations will see gas 44% cheaper than Labor’s current scheme, saving Australians an estimated $263bn. With a cheaper plan comes cheaper electricity prices, says Mr. Dutton, meaning fewer costs will be passed onto consumers. Just how long Australians will have to wait for these proposed savings, however, is unclear.
Mr. Dutton has also vowed to temporarily halve the fuel excise, saving motorists $750 dollars over the proposed 12 months.
Modelling himself after former Prime Minister John Howard, Mr. Dutton has vowed to be a steady leader who can make the tough decisions. Besides his proposed infrastructure revitalisation and fuel excise halving, Mr. Dutton put forward another campaign pledge.
Immigrants will also be a key focus of Mr. Dutton’s campaign, with the Liberal-National leader saying he will slash migration by 25% as prime minister. How this pledge explicitly relates to cost of living pressures is unclear at this stage.
Mr. Dutton’s voting history makes it clear just how much he cares about the everyday Australian and their concerns, however. Despite the best efforts of politicians like Mr. Dutton, parliamentary records are readily available to anyone and everyone with an internet connection. Among these public records is the voting history of any politician in Australia. Acting as your representatives in parliament, these men and women supposedly make decisions in your best interests. Rather than trawl through pages upon pages of bland, bureaucratic drivel, one nifty little website has done all the work for you. While it isn’t a sure fire way of predicting how politicians will vote in the future, ‘They Vote For You’ helps prospective voters pick and choose which candidates suit their interests. Divided into eight sections, They Vote For You lets us know what politicians usually vote for or against.
As the Liberal Party representative for Dickson in Queensland, Mr. Dutton has consistently voted against criminalising wage theft and has voted in favour of getting rid of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates. Late last year, Dr. Lisa Heap from The Australia Institute conducted research into how Australians are coping with the cost of living crisis. 72% of respondents to Dr. Heaps’ survey said that their income had grown slower than the price of goods and services, with 53% saying that their financial situation was worse than it was two years ago. In a press release published by the Australian Council of Trade Unions in March, Assistant Secretary Joseph Mitchell alleges that, “Peter Dutton and the business lobby attempted to blame workers’ pay increases for supermarket price rises, which never rang true.” Dr. Sarah Heap from The Australia Institute says the purchasing power of most workers has decreased since 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic thought to have accelerated inflation. As the cost of living pressures get harder and harder, more and more Australians are dipping into their savings to survive. 26% of Dr. Heap’s respondents say they have drawn on their superannuation. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the average household spent $2546 per week in 2023, with the bulk of that going towards rent ($536), recreation ($257) and food ($253). Minimum wage currently sits at $24.10 an hour, with a 38 hour week bringing home $915.80, pre-tax. The ABS puts the average weekly earnings for an adult Australian working full-time at $1,923.40, pre-tax, in 2024.
Mr. Dutton has, across his 24 years in parliament, consistently voted against these issues: increasing consumer protection, increasing the transparency of big business by making information public, and stopping tax avoidance and aggressive tax minimisation. While Mr. Dutton was staunchly against Labor’s proposed tax cuts to ordinary Australians, he has consistently voted in favour of reducing the corporate tax rate in the past. Despite the Australian Consumer Commission (ACC) not finding any evidence that Australia’s biggest supermarket chains Coles or Woolworths were guilty of price gouging, average Australians have taken note of their price hikes. 60% of Dr. Heap’s survey respondents say that they have noticed higher grocery prices, with 83% blaming supermarkets for the cost of living crisis. On Monday, Prime Minister Albanese said he would crack down on price gouging by imposing “harsh” fines on supermarkets that rip off customers. Mr. Albanese also said that he would introduce the ACC’S recommendation to improve transparency about prices, promotions, and loyalties. Mr. Dutton, however, labelled these changes “weak as water,” going on to say that “the supermarkets know it and Australians know it.” In their press release, The Australian Council of Trade Unions accused Mr. Dutton of colluding with major corporations like Coles and Woolworths, saying he “appears to be in the pockets of the supermarket giants, having voted against previous Labor reforms to tackle price gouging.” As outlined in the paragraph above, Mr. Dutton says worker’s pay increases for rising supermarket prices.
On Mark Bouris’ ‘Straight Talk’ podcast last year, Mr. Dutton talked about what a tragedy it was that young Australians had given up on buying a home, saying that it is an “asset that increases in value that you bequeath to your children or it can set you up in retirement.” Having instilled the aspiration in his own three children, Mr. Dutton says home ownership is something “you should strive for and there’s good that comes from it and if you sacrifice and you save and you go without then there’s a sort of longer term opportunity and upside.” Despite all his virtuous preaching, Mr. Dutton has almost gone out of his way to make home ownership harder for young Australians, consistently voting against increasing housing affordability and consistently voting in favour of increasing HECS-HELP indexation. As of 2023, 3 million Australians owe a combined $78 billion in student loans, with the average being $27,000. But Mr. Dutton hasn’t had any trouble acquiring property. In fact, quite the opposite. In February, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) released a bombshell report that alleges that Mr. Dutton has made $30 million from property sales over the last 35 years. Analysing property reports, corporate records, parliamentary registers, and real estate data, SMH reporters found that Mr. Dutton had made property purchases totalling $12 million, and accrued sales of $18.8 million. While he did, at one point in time, own luxury apartments, childcare centers, a shopping plaza, and a beachfront mansion, Mr. Dutton has since sold most of them off. Mr. Dutton now lives in the 68 hectare farm he bought with his wife Kirrily for $2.1 million in August 2020. In their report, the SMH also alleged that Mr. Dutton had been late to declare property transactions with parliamentary registers 15 separate times, with the coalition leader chalking it all up to a clerical error. “Somewhere paperwork hasn’t gone in on time, but there’s nothing consequential about it,” said Mr. Dutton. To add insult to injury, Mr. Dutton has consistently voted against increasing political transparency. While Mr. Dutton thinks that home ownership is simply a matter of saving and a little sacrifice, that unfortunately is not the case. Dr. Lisa Heap from The Australia Institute says, “higher costs for basics and necessities have led households to cut back spending on discretionary items over the past year. For some, those cutbacks have even included essential services such as home heating and cooling, healthy food, and visits to the doctor.” The median house price in Australia, as of March, currently sits at $1.008 million. Despite Mr. Dutton’s boot-strap thinking, this lofty aspiration is out of reach for many Australians, with the median personal income being $55,062.
With cost of living pressures only getting worse, Australians need a prime minister who looks after their best interests, who can lend a helping hand and guide them through these trying times. Is Mr. Dutton that sort of prime minister? Only time will tell.
