After another
day of baiting, blaming and bulldust from the mouths of politicians around the world, the collective bsky’ sigh of frustration and disappointment
becomes just that bit louder
Politics is popularly portrayed as the contest of ideas, policies and visions, but instead it’s become down and dirty as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton indulge in personal attacks at a level unusual for election campaigning.
In recent days, Albanese has described Dutton as cold-hearted, mean-spirited and nasty and a man who built a career on dividing people and targeting the most vulnerable. Dutton returned vitriol, blamed Albanese for antisemitic attacks, played the patriotism card on the prime minister with a promise to undo the damage to Australia Day citizenship ceremonies by forcing local government to hold them on January 26, and, for good measure, deemed he was Australia’s weakest-ever PM.
The pair resorting to character assassination has surprised many. It shouldn’t. Australian politics is littered with instances of personal abuse. But much of it has been in-house: Tony Abbott versus Malcolm Turnbull, Kevin Rudd v Julia Gillard, John Howard v Peter Costello, Bob Hawke v Paul Keating.
As Albanese and Dutton traipse the country searching for votes in the dog days before the real election campaign begins, character assassination is the order of the day.
Blame it on the soiled politics of the United States.
Since Donald Trump walked into politics eight years ago, he has turned vilifying opponents into a weapon that no longer outraged but rather helped him win two presidential terms. He sledged his 2016 political rival Hillary Clinton as “crooked Hillary” and “heartless Hillary”. Last year, he had honed insults, accusing President Joe Biden of being “mentally impaired” and bracketing the president with his latest Democrat rival, Kamala Harris, saying she was “born that way”.
Trump has coarsened politics because his vituperation worked, so it is unsurprising that Australian politics has sunk slightly in his wake.
Just days after Labor won government in 2022, frontbencher Tanya Plibersek gave a glimpse of things to come when she likened Dutton to Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort. And last month, Albanese ordered Victorian Labor to take down a terrible meme mocking Dutton’s wife Kirilly – who is not standing for office – saying her husband was not a monster. At the same time, some of Albanese’s foibles have been highlighted and become a problem for Labor in government.
Unlike some overseas voters, Australians are quite capable of balancing political hyperbole with a disregard for posturing. Preferential voting assists equilibrium, but so too does the fact that people who vote for one party in Australia do not regard the other party as being out to destroy the country.
The character of political leaders does matter. Not every campaign offers the civility that marked the 2023 NSW election, when Chris Minns and Dominic Perrottet eschewed the brawling and venom that marred the federal election. Despite the current surprise at the personal attacks perpetrated by Albanese and Dutton, it is right and proper that their traits are ventilated.
