Tanya Plibersek accuses Peter Dutton of ‘killing people’s faith in government’

Senior government minister Tanya Plibersek has accused Peter Dutton of seeking to “kick the underdog when they’re down” and “killing people’s faith in government”, as Labor targets the opposition leader ahead of the next election.

Plibersek will use a speech at Labor’s state conference in Western Australia on Saturday to criticise Dutton, calling his politics “the poisonous politics of no”.

“A politics that can only destroy and corrode, that can only tear things down, but can never build things up,” the environment minister will say.

The next federal election will not be held before May 2025, but both major parties appear to be testing campaign-style messaging and attacks on their opponents. While Coalition politicians have strongly criticised prime minister Anthony Albanese’s recent schedule of foreign trips and accused him of being “distracted” from the cost-of-living crisis by the Indigenous voice referendum campaign, the Labor government has sought to more regularly highlight negative aspects or controversies from Dutton’s time in government.

Plibersek will deliver the keynote speech in WA, the state the government focused heavily on last election and which is crucial to their hopes of retaining majority government. According to excerpts from the speech distributed to media, Plibersek will praise Albanese as exhibiting “real leadership, forward-thinking leadership”, and contrast him favourably to Dutton.

“A man whose life mission is to block progress, to stoke division, to kick the underdog when they’re down. A man who stands in front of all our opportunities and says no,” Plibersek will say of the opposition leader.

“This is a man who boycotted Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations. Boycotting, in the process, basic standards of human decency.”

Her speech goes on to reference Dutton’s 2018 comments that Victorians were “scared to go out to restaurants” because of crime and gang violence in Melbourne. Plibersek accused Dutton of “targeting African kids for the cheapest political gain”.

“These are the positions of a certain kind of politician. One who sees weakness in empathy, power in negativity, political advantage in division,” she will say.

“A man who seeks to reach the highest position in Australian government, by killing people’s faith in government.”

In a direct appeal to West Australians, Plibersek’s speech says voters in that state “saw through the empty suit of Scott Morrison and they will see through the destructive force that is Peter Dutton.”

“Peter Dutton is not a man who can deliver, he can only sabotage. We can’t let this style of politics take over. We can’t let that poison clog the arteries of government,” she will say.

It’s the latest and strongest direct attack on Dutton from the government, as it seeks to call his record into question.

In promoting Labor’s bulk-billing policies this week, the health minister, Mark Butler, noted Dutton’s role in freezing Medicare rebates when he was health minister in 2013. Labor promoted the same message, with campaign-style graphics, on social media.

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The government has often questioned Dutton’s work in immigration and other areas.

Patrick Gorman, assistant minister to the prime minister, this week shared a press release titled “dodgy Dutton alert”, claiming the opposition leader “only offers spin and empty promises”. Gorman shared the same message on social media, with a video including theme music from TV sitcom Seinfeld.

Dutton this week launched his own social media salvos against Albanese, accusing him of being “obsessed with his failed voice referendum and spending time with elites and celebrities” alongside a series of photos of the prime minister with the likes of former Qantas boss Alan Joyce, basketballer Shaquille O’Neal and US president Joe Biden.

“The prime minister promised that life would be ‘cheaper’ under him … For 18 months, he has been distracted and not focused on the issues that matter to you,” Dutton posted.

Last week the opposition leader wrote online “the cost of everything is going up”, posting a series of graphics showing rising prices for power, housing and insurance.

Numerous other Coalition MPs have criticised Albanese for his intense international travel schedule and his association with Joyce and the failure of the voice referendum.

“Albo the Albatross loved strutting around on the red carpet with Alan Joyce. Both doing secret deals so Qantas can make record profits to gift massive salaries to the board,” read a post from the shadow minister for multicultural affairs, Jason Wood, who is in India with Dutton on a visit that includes a speech to the India Australia Strategic Alliance.