Anthony Albanese will warn Australians can expect to be dragged back to an “era of conflict fatigue” under a Peter Dutton-led Coalition government in an attempt to frame the Liberal leader as indistinguishable from his unpopular predecessor Scott Morrison.
Marking the second anniversary of his 2022 election victory in western Sydney on Friday, the Prime Minister will seek to draw parallels between his opposition counterpart and the former PM, arguing the electorate can expect a future Coalition government to stoke “fear and division”.
“Australians have worked too hard to be dragged back to the era of conflict fatigue,” Mr Albanese will tell a Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue event.
Delivered in the political battleground of Sydney’s west, maintaining its hold in the region is critical to Labor’s strategy at the next election, due by May 2025 at the latest.
Indeed, last week’s federal budget labelled the major population growth area as “central focus”, delivering infrastructure investments totalling $17.3bn.
Also pointing to disagreements Mr Morrison had with state and local governments, the union movement and the then Labor opposition, particularly through the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Albanese will also seek to paint Mr Dutton as uncooperative.
“We’ve seen what happens when the only test that politicians apply is their political self-interest,” he will say.
“We saw it with Scott Morrison, we’re seeing it again with Peter Dutton.”
With the next federal poll due within 12 months, Mr Albanese will claim the challenges facing Australia are too great for the “shallow and shambolic” approach previously taken by the Opposition.
“The challenges we face are too urgent for a retreat to denial and delay,” the Prime Minister will say.
“The progress we have made together is too important to go back to fear and division.”
On Thursday morning, Mr Dutton ramped up his own attacks on the Prime Minister, continuing to brand Mr Albanese as “weak” after he refused to criticise the decision of the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I think this is one of the most shameful acts of the Prime Minister. The Jewish community is completely, utterly bewildered,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Perth.
“I think Australians of good faith are bewildered as well that their prime minister doesn’t have the ability or the wit to be able to stand up for what is our country’s best interest and to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, including the United States.”