‘Can’t pay the bills’: Dutton’s US warning shot

Peter Dutton says issues that ousted the Democrats in the US should serve as a warning for Labor.

With Aussies set to hit polling booths by May, the Opposition Leader pointed to issues like cost-of-living pressures and migration.

Mr Dutton said disgruntled voters struggling with inflation was a key reason behind Donald Trump’s emphatic win, with the President-elect sweeping all seven key swing states.

“I think part of the problem in the United States was that people didn’t believe that the government was listening to them when they couldn’t pay their bills, they couldn’t pay their mortgages, couldn’t pay their insurance, their rent’s gone up,” he told Nine.

Mr Dutton said there were “eerie parallels” to Australian voters, targeting Jim Chalmers’ comments during question time in which he declared “headline inflation is now back in the target band for the first time since 2021”.

Mr Dutton said the message would fall flat with struggling Aussies.

“I just don’t think that washes because of the lived experience,” he said.

“The reality for lots of families sitting around the kitchen tables at the moment is that they’re pulling their hair out and they can’t pay the bills, and people are having to sell their homes because they just can’t afford the mortgage repayments.”

Migration would be another key election issue, with the Coalition claiming record high rates were inflaming the housing market.

While both sides have conceded Australia needs to lower its record intake of overseas migrants through policies like an international student cap, Mr Dutton has previously promised to slash net overseas migration to 160,000 by 2025, down from the government’s forecast of 260,000.

“To talk about the US, the migration issues there were very real in the election, and I think they’re going to be real in the upcoming (Australian) election,” Mr Dutton said.

He also attacked Labor’s emergency regulations to ensure former immigration detainees released due to the High Court NZYQ ruling would continue to be monitored through ankle trackers and curfews.

This followed a second ruling that determined the practice was unconstitutional, with 126 ex-detainees on curfew provisions and 143 forced to wear ankle monitors.

On Thursday, Immigration Minister Tony Burke initiated a new process that gives him discretion to reinstate the conditions if it’s believed there is a “substantial risk” to the community.

Mr Dutton criticised the government’s handling of the High Court ruling as “one of the worst exercises that the Albanese government’s been involved in”.

“These are not refugees. They’re people that have committed murders, sexual offences, serious domestic violence, repeat offenders,” he said.

However, his sparring partner and senior minister Bill Shorten said the government had been prepared for the High Court’s second decision and had extra precautions invoked within 24 hours.

“At the end of the day, if the court gives you a result you don’t want, you can throw your arms in the air all you like, but you’re better off just getting pragmatic and keeping the community safe, which is what we’re doing,” he said.

On Friday, Anthony Albanese also dodged a question on whether voters wanted more populist politics, like Mr Trump’s messaging that championed working class Americans over the elite.

Instead, the Prime Minister said his government was focused on policies that would make a “positive difference”, pointing to Labor’s promise to slash all HECS debt by 20 per cent, its $300 energy bill relief, and broader stage 3 tax cut reforms.

“The economy needs to work for people, not the other way around,” he said, deflecting criticism of his HECS debt policy.

“That’s my government’s approach, and that will continue to be the guiding principle. No one held back, no one left behind.”