Peter Dutton’s election campaign is faltering just as momentum should be building, fuelling growing unease inside the Coalition that his abrasive image and perceived ideological closeness to Donald Trump is pushing away the swing voters he needs to win.
What was meant to be a disciplined opening to a five-week campaign, centred on cost-of-living pressures and national security, was instead overshadowed by muddled messaging, strategic drift and a leader whose tough-guy persona – unyielding, combative, defiantly anti-woke – now seems misaligned with voters unsettled by Trump’s assault on the global rules-based order.