CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The Australian Liberal Party’s complete detachment from voter sentiment is once again on full display this week, as Opposition leader Peter Dutton attempts to generate headlines with the kind of anti-Muslim rhetoric that hasn’t really motivated voters since the mid-2000s.
Speaking to his cheer squad at Murdoch’s far-right propaganda TV channel Sky News on Wednesday, Dutton called for a ban on accepting war-weary Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
Dutton’s comments come after months of stoking division within the nation’s multicultural communities, by exploiting the horror and tragedy currently taking place in the Middle East and attempting to transplant it into the Australian political landscape.
Even after being accused by Labor of a deliberate “calculation” to divide the community, Dutton doubled down on his position in an interview with Nine’s Today Show in which he sneered at accusations that he was “racist” or “heartless” for implying that these stateless and distraught Palestinians are a risk to Australian safety and should just stay where they are dodging bombs and living in rubble.
However, unfortunately for both Peter Dutton and his army of bigoted Australian media commentators, it seems that this kind of brazen islamophobia just doesn’t land like it used to. Especially amongst the reactionary voters that they are specifically trying to stir up into a rage of xenophobia.
It’s almost like Dutton doesn’t realise that Dubai is fast becoming the new Bali for cashed up bogans looking for a bitta luxury.
Let alone the fact that the main events in almost every UFC fight card features at least one fan-favourite Dagestani with cauliflower ears.
Or the extremely successfully sportswashing of Arab nations through the LIV Golf Tournament and the Qatar FIFA world cup.
It’s a shift in public opinion that began with the high profile Muslim sports stars such as Sonny Bill Williams, Hazem El Masri and Usman Khawaja – who served as mild-mannered ambassadors for a religion that the political class would prefer Australians live in fear of.
And in a world of snowflakes and whingers, the Australian bogan has developed a deep respect for the disciplined alpha male Muslim archetype. And with the rise of social media, it seems that the Australian media’s ‘goodies and baddies’ narratives are less effective.
It is not yet known if Dutton and the Liberals will reassess this election strategy, or they will continue banging their outdated drum, hoping that a once reliable fear of brown skin and foreign religious dress is enough to get Australian voters to elect them in 2025.
Either way, this particular rhetoric somehow makes them look like both heartless monsters and softcock beta males at the same time.
