Former Labor leader Bill Shorten says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s working-from-home policy backflip has left him vulnerable as the federal election comes closer.
On Monday, the Coalition backed away from its proposed working-from-home policy and a demand for “all” public servants to return to the office and made a major retreat on its promise to slash 41,000 Commonwealth jobs.
Mr Dutton told Nine’s Today program the Coalition had “made a mistake in relation to this policy, and I think it’s important that we say that and recognise it”.
A number of other Coalition politicians echoed the sentiment but also blamed Labor for attacking the policy, while Labor suggested it was a huge failure for the opposition.
Angus Taylor was one of them and admitted to 7.30 that the Coalition erred.
“We think that was the wrong way of going about solving that problem,” he said on Monday night.
Mr Shorten suggested the backflip and the number of Coalition politicians coming out with the same lines as their party leader struck a desperate tone.
“That’s absolutely the place you don’t want to be if you’re running an opposition campaign,” Mr Shorten told 7.30.
“I thought they were more like ‘proof-of-life videos, just saying, ‘please still think about us’.”
Peter Dutton has endured a tough week on the campaign trail. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Mr Shorten then accused the Coalition and Mr Dutton’s advisers of being out of of touch with average Australians on the issue of working from home.
“Elections aren’t about primary school and giving every kid a pen award,” the former Labor leader quipped.
“The truth is [about] who’s more in touch, and I think when we look at who’s more in touch, this working-from-home stuff, it just shows me that … the people behind Peter don’t know how people in the outer suburbs are organising their lives.
“It’s expensive catching the train or driving into work in the cities every day, if families have the chance two days a week for one of the bread-winners to not have to spend literally thousands of dollars a year, and they can work from home using the new technology of the internet, that’s a cost-of-living measure.
“What worries me is it’s it was a sort of a brain snap to have the policy and from the people who brought you that, are they ready to govern?
“I think it was a red flag, to be honest, those videos saying we got it wrong.“
Backflip not make or break, Pyne says
Former Coalition defence minister Christopher Pyne felt the admission was not a faux pas and showed that opposition frontbenchers can admit to their mistakes.
Christopher Pyne has supported Peter Dutton over the change in policy. (ABC News: Ryan Sheridan)
He also called out some past policy backflips from former Labor leaders, including Mr Shorten.
Mr Shorten lost elections in 2016 and 2019 to Coalition leaders Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.
After the 2019 defeat in what many termed the ‘unlosable election’ the Labor party dumped the negative gearing policy Mr Shorten took to the voters.
“I’ve seen some much worse backflips in my time,” Mr Pyne told 7.30.
“The negative gearing back flip from the Labor Party after the 2019 election sort of stands out.
“It certainly doesn’t stand alongside ‘there will never be a carbon tax under any government I lead’, which was Julia Gillard back in 2013.
“Whether people like the policy or don’t like the policy, it does leave the impression behind that the Coalition recognises that not every public servant working from home is working as hard as they would be if they’re in the office.
“As back flips go … it’s done, it’s over, but I don’t think it leaves necessarily a very bad impression on most Australian voters.“
Who benefits from Liberation Day?
Mr Pyne believes that while Mr Dutton can overcome domestic issues, he says the global issue of the week — Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs — may make life difficult for the opposition leader during the election campaign.
Last week, the US president unveiled a series of tariffs for nearly all nations, including Australia.
They have since resulted in global market meltdowns and strained relations for the United States as the world has been thrown into economic turmoil.
Donald Trump announced his new tariff regime in the Rose Garden at the White House. (Reuters: Carlos Barria)
China, Australia’s largest trade partner, has been hit particularly hard by the tariffs and responded in kind.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the tariffs were not the actions of a friend, before he laid out his planned response.
Mr Pyne said the uncertainty favours Labor.
“Economic uncertainty does favour the incumbent, and it’s come at a very difficult time for Peter Dutton and his team,” Mr Pyne told 7.30.
“Economic uncertainty does lead people to not take a risk, and if they think the Albanese government is more solid than the Dutton opposition, this could be very unhelpful for Peter Dutton.
“But he still has a good month to prove to people that the Coalition has the policies for cost of living.”
