101 mind-blowing reasons why Dutton is unfit to be PM

We will soon learn whether Peter “Temu Trump” Dutton’s ultra-conservative Coalition can persuade Australians to eject the sitting Albanese Labor Government in its favour.

Certainly, Dutton does not appear to have heeded the changing headwinds blowing from all directions, discussed in detail in our editorial earlier this week.

Such as, in Canada, for example, where voters rejected the Trumpist conservative party, previously favoured to win in a landslide and instead, ejected leader Pierre Poilievre from the seat he held since 2004. Max Carney, who was not even a member of parliament prior to the election, led his party of the Left to victory with a determined, independent stance against Trump’s lunacy.

Or in Europe, where the European Union and the United Kingdom forged a new, strategic economic and security alliance, which does not include the United States.

Or even right here in Australia, where a new poll has exposed a seismic shift in voters’ views on Australia’s place in the world after Trump's re-election.

Nope, back in Dutton’s down-under world, it’s "All the way with the Orange-led USA".

Dutton, it appears, has even enlisted election advice from Trump's very own campaign chief, Chris LaCivita.

It's unsurprising, then, that in the final days of the election campaign, the would-be PM has not left behind his many Trumpist stances or even attempted a new, less obvious Far-Right approach. Instead, Pete has doubled down with a final Trumpian, hate-filled flourish.

And so, we bring you the final update to our catalogue of reasons why Peter Dutton is categorically unfit to be PM, now at a staggering (though not exhaustive) total of 101. Please share with your friends and foes and anyone else you can think of.

101. Cosying up to extreme cults

A hyper-conservative, fringe evangelical cult, which, among its bizarre tenets, includes forbidding its members from voting, has been seen energetically campaigning for the Liberal Party at polling booths all around Australia this week.

Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, formerly known as the “Exclusive Brethren”, has among its other doctrinal mandates the denial of evolution; prohibits members from mixing with non-cult members, including their children attending public schools; and grants its male followers absolute authority over its women.

And we thought Morrison’s Pentecostals were … unusual.

The group’s controversial links to the Coalition extend back to the time of John Howard, who persuaded them to donate eye-watering sums to the Party, presumably because another of their charming beliefs includes a sharp hatred of trade unions.

So attracted to the Liberals under Peter Dutton is the Exclusive Brethren, it has relaxed the restriction on its flock voting or engaging in the democratic process by allowing – maybe commanding – its members to hand out how-to-vote cards in polling booths in marginal seats, right around the country. Indeed, so supportive are the “Bros”, the son of the cult’s leader was seen handing out how-to-vote cards for the Libs in Sydney this week.

Where did the idea of getting radical extremists to launch themselves into Dutton’s election campaign come from, you may ask? Well, according to Liberal Party insiders, it emanated from Peter Dutton’s own office — something he has not denied. Indeed, he has vigorously defended the Brethren’s right to support his campaign and ignored any questions about their odious beliefs.

The question that needs to be asked is, what has Dutton promised these whackos in return?

100. Red carpet for war criminals

When the United Nations’ International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for someone on the grounds they were conducting a program of systematic extermination of an entire race, many might expect leaders of UN member nations to execute said warrant if such an individual crosses their borders.

But in the case of Peter Dutton, if he were to become Australian Prime Minister and the person conducting the alleged genocide is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not only will he roll out the red carpet for the alleged perpetrator of genocide, he will attack and campaign for the abolition of the International Criminal Court.

99. More defence lies

Not since World War Two has the world faced a more precarious security situation. Rather than attempt to foster a sense of stability, Dutton has taken yet another leaf out of Trump's playbook and exploited voters' latent insecurities by continuing to lie about the Albanese Labor Government's defence funding. His latest accusation has suggested an $80 billion cut.

In fact, as AAP FactCheck demonstrated, defence spending under the Albanese Government has increased by $50 billion.

98. Stoking culture wars ... even on Anzac Day

Dutton chose Anzac Day, a day set aside to show respect, to instead side with Neo-Nazis.

After neo-Nazis booed and heckled a welcome to country ceremony at a dawn service in Melbourne, Dutton shared his thoughts that the welcome to country ceremonies are unnecessary at Anzac Day dawn services, and that Indigenous acknowledgments in general were “over the top”.

Dutton then claimed an intimate knowledge of the thoughts of Australia's war veterans, saying:

"I think the majority view would be that they [veterans] don’t want it on [Anzac Day]."

97. More immigration lies

Emulating his hero, Trump, Dutton has attempted to put xenophobia at the forefront of every debate, lying about a surge in numbers under Labor and vowing steep cuts to immigration.

As usual, however, there is no substance to his claims and, as demonstrated in a report by the ABC's Laura Tingle, immigration numbers under Albanese's Labor Government have remained stable.

Indeed, as IA's Dr Abul Rizvi explained:

Before COVID In 2019 ...the Morrison Government forecast net overseas migration at 270,000 per annum. During COVID, that fell sharply.

Then after COVID, the Coalition government stomped on the immigration accelerator. Net migration boomed to over 500,000 — a level we've never seen in our history. It then declined last financial year to about 445,000.

This year, it's projected to hit about 335,000 and next year, Treasury is forecasting 260,000.