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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton continues to struggle to gain popular traction with the first Newspoll conducted since he formally pulled the band aid off and announced he will not be supporting the proposed constitutional recognition of Indigenous people, after spending months attempting to hedge his bets with
But with the Liberals losing 20 seats at the 2022 Election, the Opposition is now mostly made up of pearl-clutching Sky News puppets and Christian fundamentalists – both of whom have very little interest in improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The Coalition’s clunky no campaign has resulted in voters turning away from their Opposition Leader in droves. His disapproval rating increased by four points to 52 while his approval dropped by two points to 33 per cent.
Mr Dutton’s net approval rating hit minus 19, down 15 points since he took over the Liberal leadership last year.
As the former Immigration Minister who described refugee children as ‘anchor babies’ and oversaw the extreme cruelty that was the off-shore warehousing of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island – Peter Dutton was never going to have much of a shot at winning back the moderate Liberal voters who have bled left for the Teal Independents and White Collar Labor. However, it seems the coalition’s ‘winter in Opposition’ might last a lot longer than previously expected.
In the face of an extreme housing crisis, environmental disasters every Summer, and a rapidly dwindling public service of underpaid teachers and nurses – Peter Dutton and his shadow frontbench of culture wars mouth-breathers appear far more focused on scoring cheap points in the same Murdoch-owned NewsCorp tabloids that everyone stopped reading during the pandemic.
The Opposition’s existential crisis is well and truly in full swing today, after frustrated Liberal staffers leaked Peter Dutton’s fairly basic re-election strategy to the media.
Number 1 on his three-point list, keep visiting Alice Springs to host press conferences that highlight the issues caused by not listening to Aboriginal people and in turn accidentally endorse the Voice.
Number 2, something about trans people.
Number 3. Dress the same as Malcolm Turnbull and maybe the doctor’s husbands of Bellevue Hill will return.