CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Rumours of a Liberal Party leadership spill are swirling again, as the Federal Opposition begin leaking like motherfuckers against their embattled skipper.
Following a disastrous fortnight of gaffes, poorly received policy, and criminal accusations – things could not have been going worse for Peter Dutton.
But ‘worse’ is a grave understatement of what was to come. It seems even Donald Trump himself would struggle to survive the last week of Australian politics – let alone the man they call ‘Temu Trump’.
First it was the since unanswered allegations of insider trading, where Peter Dutton stands accused of buying shares in Australia’s major banks on the eve of a hundred billion dollar financial bail out during the GFC. As a shadow minister in 2009, Peter Dutton will not confirm whether or not he was privy to sensitive information that informed his first trade in three years.
Then there was his attacks on public servants, which saw Dutton spouting very Trumplike rhetoric about sacking tens of thousands of hard working Australians.
Then he decided to go after young women. Dutton said if young mothers want to work from home, they can get paid less.
But it was in the midst of the extreme backlash from female voters who had taken issue with Dutton’s brain snap announcement that young mothers should be taking half-pay for flexible work hours, that a very important email landed in the Liberal leader’s official work email inbox.
With a Category 2 Cyclone heading directly for Peter Dutton’s marginal North Brisbane electorate, many would have thought that he’d be at home, alongside his battened down neighbours, preparing for the worst. The email didn’t find him at home.
It was from a NewsCorp journalist by the name of Samantha Maiden, who had heard a rumour that Peter Dutton had fled Queensland in the midst of a natural disaster, and was instead meeting with billionaire Liberal Party donors in Sydney’s affluent Eastern Suburbs.
Dutton decided to lie his way out of these allegations. It was a short-lived survival tactic, and one that was immediately undone after he was spotted in Sydney airport.
Since this lie was uncovered, Temu Trump has not made one media appearance – or given one public comment – as he hides away for an entire week. He certainly hasn’t been seen helping with the recovery efforts in his local electorate.
It is believed that after a week of PR paralysis, his colleagues in the Federal Coalition are beginning to grow frustrated by their leader’s decision to take advantage of the Albanese government’s new right-to-disconnect laws. Many are now asking themselves if it’s not too late to replace him with a leader who doesn’t go missing when the media stops cheering for him.
