The approach Peter Dutton is now taking in pursuing his attacks on Anthony Albanese has undergone a notable change.
The opposition leader is now trying to portray Anthony Albanese as someone who does not take the truth seriously.
It is exactly the same approach Albo took when he attacked former Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the run-up to the 2022 election.
Labor’s focus groups at the time confirmed that Morrison’s honesty was being questioned after the bushfires.
His subsequent blurring of many issues fuelled voter concerns, which were reflected in Labour’s research.
It was a powerful attack because everything Morrison said or did could be questioned. It was just another example of his dodgy behaviour.
The attacks were successful because they reflected a sentiment voters already had.
When Labor realised that these sentiments were prevalent among voters, Team Albo stressed the point at every opportunity.
I remember talking to the current Prime Minister after the election victory about the strategy and its success.
Anthony Albanese criticized Scott Morrison’s character and won the election. This week, Dutton began focusing on Albo’s truthfulness
Now that Team Dutton wants to use the same strategy against Albo, the question is whether the label will stick.
Do voters feel anywhere near the same way about Albo as they did about Morrison as prime minister?
It is hard to imagine the coalition would go down this road – and in fact attack the prime minister’s character – if the focus group research had not shown that voters were at least beginning to distrust Albo’s words.
Even if that is the case, I feel the concerns about Albo’s veracity are nowhere near as great as the concerns about Morrison when he lost the 2022 election.
Such sentiments appear to clash with the “good guy Albo” messages previously leaked during Liberal Party focus groups about the Labor Party leader.
These findings prompted months ago to address Albo’s competence, or rather, his incompetence.
There was a sense in opposition circles that their improbable victory – the first one-term government since 1931 to topple – had been a plea for voters to put aside the fact that they saw Albanese as someone they would like to have a drink with and judge him instead on his poor performance as prime minister.
This approach would see the Labor Party tackle everything from cost-of-living pressures to rising inflation and high interest rates to the per capita recession Australians are facing.
Looks familiar! Dutton appears to be copying Albo’s character assassination tactics
The opposition will not abandon this strategy, but they have decided to add another attack strategy: assassinating Albo’s character.
He focuses on the Prime Minister’s recent obfuscation of issues such as the government’s disagreements with the Reserve Bank and Albo’s comments about the head of ASIO.
This week, for example, Albo left out a key part of what ASIO chief Mike Burgess said when he quoted from a TV interview the spy chief had given about Palestinian refugees in Australia receiving security assessments.
Dutton accused the prime minister of “deliberately misquoting” his security chief.
Dutton said: ‘What the Prime Minister did here was read out a sentence but left out part of that sentence and skipped the words, which resulted in the qualification that Mike Burgess gave in his interview last weekend.
“I have never in my 20-plus years in this parliament seen anyone in that role as prime minister accused of deliberately misleading parliament,” he said.
‘And it is unprecedented that the current prime minister does not stand up and fiercely defend his or her position.’
Albo said he wasn’t just going to read the entire transcript.
Perhaps the “good guy” image that seemed to be attached to Albanian premiership is fading, whether because of his approach to political debates or because voters are losing patience in the context of tough economic times.
If Dutton is right and people are beginning to doubt Albo’s sincerity, then reinforcing that doubt is an opportunity not to be missed.
Because by the time the election campaign begins, such sentiments will undermine the prime minister’s ability to sell himself to voters.
Likewise, such attacks on Morrison’s character ensured that he became the biggest obstacle to the Coalition’s re-election chances.
Even if the strategy ultimately doesn’t work for Dutton, the attack on Albo’s character will damage him in the aftermath of the election.
Suppose he wins, albeit in ugly fashion, and is forced to serve in a minority government, a wounded Albo, for example, might find it harder to keep internal opponents at bay.
It would also put the prime minister on the wrong track immediately after the election, even if he wins. That was Julia Gillard’s experience after she narrowly won the 2010 election.
She lost all momentum in her victory, allowing Tony Abbott to dictate the terms of the next three years, leading to a landslide election victory for the Coalition in 2013.
As Dutton attempts to win the next election, attacks on Albo’s (dis)honesty could prove to be an insurance policy designed to discredit the prime minister, which could become a strategy for the two-term coalition.
