Opposition leader Peter Dutton has gone after Labor’s failure to address the cost of living crisis – claiming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done a “con job” on Australian voters as he made a last-gasp pitch to voters.
At a press conference on Friday, Mr Dutton called Saturday’s federal poll a “sliding doors” moment for Australia.
“A Greens-Labor government is going to be a disaster for our country and Australians just can’t afford three more years of Mr Albanese,” he said.
He held up a copy of The Australian newspaper from May 2, 2022, whose front page headline quoted the then-Opposition leader saying he would make life cheaper for Australians, as evidence that the Albanese government could not be trusted.
“It’s a con job three years to this day. Three years. Let’s have a look at that. And the con job continues today,” Mr Dutton said.
“He keeps changing his position and Australians can’t trust this Prime Minister. New tacks, changing to negative gearing, unrealised capital gains tax, the Voice, all of this – I don’t think Australians are going to vote for that.”
It comes after he dismissed exit polling showing his hold on his seat of Dickson is in danger as he seeks to win over voters on the last full day of the election campaign.
The exit poll of 200 early voters conducted by The Courier Mail on Thursday reveled the Opposition leader is in a battle for Dickson with Labor’s Ali France.
The results showed Ms France sitting on a primary vote of 37.1 per cent – a swing of 5.4 per cent towards Labor since 2022, with Mr Dutton’s primary vote at 35.1 per cent – 7 per cent down on his previous election result.
Mr Dutton holds the seat of Dickson, north-west of Brisbane, by a wafer-thin margin of 1.7 per cent.
Appearing on Sky News on Friday morning, Mr Dutton shrugged off the idea he could lose his seat, declaring exit polling to be “notoriously inaccurate”.
“I never take a vote for granted in my seat and I’m always very grateful for the support that people provide to me and we’ve held the seat since 2001,” he said.
“Before that, no one had held it for more than one term but I’ve done a lot of hard work locally, helped a lot families and local sporting clubs and organisations and I’ll continue to work hard.
“I know there’s exit polling out at the moment but that’s notoriously inaccurate … I’m confident of our position but I’d never take it for granted.”
Mr Dutton said he was “confident of our position” but wouldn’t take it for granted, adding he was “incredibly grateful” to the people of Dickson for their support.
