The Chaser Report - Dutton Says He Supports PM Who He Said Can't Be Trusted

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Charles and Dom unpack the mental gymnastics utilised by Peter Dutton while he calls Albanese the "liar in The Lodge" who "robbed" the Australian people, while also supporting the changes Albanese has made to help those very same Australians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Jayser Report with Dom and Charles. Hello, Charles. I'm coming to you from Brisbane today and I'm here on a pilgrimage to understand better the mind of Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, who's come out and let me get this right, supported the government's changes to tax. What? He supported the... Hang on, no, no, no, no, Dom, I think you sort of... You must be jet-lagged or something like that.

No, no, the coalition are completely opposed to the changes to stage three tax cuts. It's a completely broken promise. They've been saying that for weeks. Well, they're voting for them. I'm looking at... I've got the news in front of me here. It says that they're... No, this couldn't be right.

They couldn't be waving through Albo's changes while opposing this deception, this con job on the Australian. people. Let's just say it's quite a difficult line to walk. Let's listen to how well Peter Dutton walks that line after this. Okay, so before we listen to Peter Dutton, I think I've actually got a theory that solves this whole thing. So what you're saying is that Peter Dutton is voting in favour of the state three tax cuts. But he actually... The changes, the new regime whereby people who are not earning more than 200 grand will actually get tax cuts as well. Yeah, yeah. That anyone, the tax cuts

that have now changed so that anyone earning under, I'd check this the other day, $146,500 is the sort of point at which you become much better off under these changes if you're under $146,000. You still get a tax card if you're above that. You just get slightly less of. Well, you were going to get $9,000 and you get, I think it's $5,400 or something now. It's not as good, Charles. It's not as good.

And, look, I feel really, really sorry for some of the people who affected. by this. Before we get on to the politics, I just want to get on to some of the victims, can I? Allegra Spender. Allegra Spender interviewed her well-heeled constituents in the seat of Wentworth, and she says it's a big impact on my family. We're both in our 30s, two kids, full-time in daycare, massive mortgage, cost of living increasing, we're relying on this cut coming in, and now half of it's been stripped away. Those are the victims, the people in Wentworth who own houses who are getting less. The parliamentarians. The parliamentarians. Poor Allegra Spender, she's not going to be able to afford. that, I don't know, like the third girl at Ascom?

What do people spend that money on? Guess what percentage of voters in the seat of Wentworth? We're talking about Silver Tale City. We're talking Vaucluse, the most expensive property in the country. Guess what percentage in Wentworth support the government's changes to stage three? Well, I mean, if you were not across the news, you'd probably go, oh, well, people vote in favour of their own hip-pocket nerve. So no one would support Albo's changes.

But isn't the whole point that that's not how anyone has ever voted, that you sort of realise you need hospital schools and roads? And so even they actually quite like these changes to the tax cuts. 70%. 70%. In Wentworth are in favour of these changes. See, I've been calling the next election for Albo all along. And the fascinating thing about this, Charles, is that these are people

And I didn't think this is possible. They've taken a moment away from just staring at the harbour from their amazingly expensive property. And they've answered a survey and they've had a moment of self-awareness and realized that not everyone's as well as well as them. That is extraordinary. That's the first time that's ever happened. Do you think it's like going to communion? And you know how Catholics do things like, you know, fuck children and stuff? I've heard that, yeah.

But then they go to communion, they confess their sins and they feel better about it. And so all these people are sitting on multi-million dollar tax write-offs from all their negative gearing and their investment properties and their capital gains tax concessions and all these things that are basically the whole society and the whole tax system is geared towards their accumulation of other people's wealth. And this little amendment has sort of allowed them to wipe clean the slate and just go, yeah, I'm a good person. Well, Allegra Spender's position now is we need much broader tax reform. So she's cooking up something. Oh, well, that's good. That's good. She'll want to abolish negative gearing on investment properties.

You think that would reflect the views of the people of Wentworth who voted for it? The other thing is Charles. We get a Tobin tax after all. A wealth tax. A wealth tax. Maybe a carbon tax. 72% of people in Wentworth, Charles, say that the government's decision reduces their trust in politics and politicians because this is the first time.

What? This is the first time a politician has ever gone back on an election promise. You know, I actually worked out today what the difference between this and the carbon tax cut broken promise was. Well, you know, not the carbon tax. There'll be no carbon tax, nothing. No carbon tax. What? The fatal mistake that Gillard made when Tony Abbott said, hey, you made a carbon tax and you said you wouldn't.

She went, no, I didn't. It's a tax surcharge or whatever it was, right? An ETS. What she should have done. done is what Alba did, would you just go, yeah, look, I've done some real, I've done some real soul searching here. Like, I never like to lie. Like, lying is not within me, but, but I just take this really seriously. And so I'm just going to do it because it's what's good and it's what's right for the country. Well, he should go to for Peter Beatty. I mean, that was the most,

that was the most, Peter Beatty was a genius. And here in Brisbane, you know, the people know, they're still talking about him in the streets. What Peter Beatty did was whenever he had to do a Backflip, whenever anything went wrong, he just stood up there and said, I take full responsibility, it's my fault, it's on my shoulders. Don't blame my team. It's me, Peter Beattie, who's in the wrong year, and did this massive mayor corpah. And everyone went, oh, he's a good boy. I'd have a beer with Peter Beattie.

Come on here, big fella, I'll give you a hug. You feel so bad about this, having to break your election promise. Yes, that's right. I think that's good. I mean, what I was surprised is that they didn't sort of point out at some point. in the last couple of weeks, that the stage three tax cuts were designed, I think, in 2018, wasn't it?

It was five years ago. It was a whole program. It's a very old piece of legislation. And they could have, at any point, just gone, so these text cuts came in before there was a pandemic. Like, the life was totally different back then. It was before the Applevision pro forgot today. It was, like, we didn't even have spatial computing back then.

I'm not even sure writing exists. listed back when the stage three tax cuts. Like, they say a week is a long time in politics. Five years is, like, I don't know even who was prominent. I think Billy McMahon was prime minister under when these. Actually, Charles, you know the sad thing about these stage three tax cut changes for the very rich people. $5,400, the amount of the cut is exactly the price of an Applevision pro. Oh, shit.

So I've got to go through the four. No, but Dom, I've been trying to say this, the whole podcast, which is I've got a theory for why. Peter Dutton both completely opposes the changes to the text cards, but also is going to vote for them. All right. Well, we'll hear his actual audio soon. But before we do, let's hear the first theory of it. Based on not having heard any of what Peter Dutton actually had to say. I always prefer your theories when they're based on minimum information, though.

Which is, I think that he is leading by example, right, which is the only way he will ever become prime minister is if people start getting to the habit of vote. voting for things that they hate, specifically him, right? And so he wants people to go, oh, you know what you do when you really hate something? You vote for it, right? And he's doing this with the changes to the tax cards. And then at the next election, that will be his slogan. It'll be like, vote for the thing you hate. Peter Dutton.

It's the only way. That idea it occurred to happen out of an easy before the voice referendum. Okay. So in a moment, we'll play a game, Charles. We'll play the game. imagine you Peter Dutton after this The Chaser Report News a few days after it happens

Sorry I've got to imagine that I'm Peter Dutton This is really horrible Okay so if you're Peter Dutton You have quite a difficult potato plantation to hoe here right The problem you have Is that the way it's been pitched by Anthony Albanese Is everybody gets a massive tax cut It's just that rich people get less

a less massive one. Yes, and also, and the thing is, under the old ones, not everyone was even going to get a tax cut. So they've been able to add this very broad thing, which is like, because anyone just like casually paying attention to it will just go, well, I don't know, like, does everyone get it? And it's like, they didn't use to it, but now everyone does. Four of people did get tax cuts in stage one and two,

as a few rich people have pointed out this week before being loudly shouted down and getting absolutely nice. Like, he's got to choose whether to oppose everyone getting a tax cut or only the rich people getting the tax cut, while somehow trying to do as much damage as possible to Anthony Albanese's leadership. So he's got to at once completely support the PM's decision because of the cost of living crisis, because everyone seems to think it's a good idea, even in Wentworth, while also going, oh, this bloke's done.

Now, Peter Dutton's first, I think Macalia Cash came out and immediately said, we're going to repeal these changes if we win office. And it was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Reverse, do, do, do, do. So backing away from that one. But then he's had to then work out what to actually do. Here's how he went. And just get a sense of how good you think Peter Dutton is at being in opposition here.

Think about what Tony Abbott would have done with this situation. He is Dutton. We dealt with what's been an egregious lie by the Prime Minister. I think, again, Australians have been shocked to know that they've got a liar in the lodge and they've got a Prime Minister who looks the Australian public in the eye and is prepared to lie to them. He's taken the money away, obviously, from the proposed stage three tax cuts, which had been legislated. He's robbed that money, and he's put it into the proposal that he's got forward on the table at the moment.

So, Charles, he's robbed. He's robbed the money. And what Dutton doesn't say is he's robbed it from the rich people and given it to the poor people. That's the bit he hasn't explained. I really do like the line, liar in the lodge. That is a great line. A liar in the lodge. That is a little bit abbot-esque, isn't it?

That's not bad. Yeah, it's very Linton Crosby. I think Crosby text has been, you know, workshopping this all week. Lire in the Lodge. Maybe it's more like friar tuck, though, from Robin Hood. If you're Peter Dutton, would you talk about friars, you're in the potato thing? No, you wouldn't. So a liar in the lodge.

So it's a good line. Yeah, yeah. But then he has to pirouet around that and explain that he's listening to the people who are going to actually. Oh, yes, of course. This is the difficulty. Because if he doesn't agree with these tax cuts, then he's not listening to the people. And he's not listening to people who are in genuine pain. So listen to how deftly he goes from the liar in the lodge and he's robbing money

to then talking about his listening tour. As you move around the country, as we all do, the stories of hardship are obvious and there are some tragic stories out there at the moment of single parent families, of people who are working hard but living in cars, people who are $8,000 a year worse off under this government, people with a mortgage who are $24,000 a year worse off under this government. So the coalition is not going to stand in the way of providing support to Australians who are doing it tough. We're supporting this change, not to support the Prime Minister's lie,

but to support those families who need help now. I really don't understand that. So he starts off by saying that these tax cuts are going to pull $8,000 away from people living in cars, presumably because they're going to rob people, people living in Maseratis. People are on 220 grand a year living in their cars. Are you like to negative gear your second car if you live in a Is that right? I think that's how the law works. But then they're going to support the tax cuts because they actually provide support for those people

who have been robbed of the support that these tax cuts would have given. I don't understand. Charles, he's actually come out and said, everyone's doing it tough. They need the tax cuts and the coalition is listening. This is the man who, after Albo made the announcement, said, we need an election.

Call an election. Hang on. why, if they admit that the tax cuts are necessary and that that's why they're doing it, why do they oppose them? Why are they reluctantly agreeing to do them? I don't understand. I'm just starting to think of... It doesn't make any sense.

I mean, this was, I was watching him on Sunrise as well up against Bill Shorten last week. This is the greatest free kick he's likely to have in his entire term. And he's absolutely stuffing it. I mean, imagine what Tony Abbott would have done with this. Why would you get into the detail? Why wouldn't you just go, look, this is a shambles. They're panicking. They're lying to their teeth, but they're digging their own grave,

and we're not going to get in their way. Yeah. If Albanese wants to lie to the Australian people, he's the Prime Minister. Yeah. You know, let him, let him lie. We don't got to, you know, we'll save you. Vote for us. We'll save you.

But this is terrible, terrible policy made on a run, made in a panic. And just don't get down into the details. That clip could have been in a Labour ad. What a good policy the Prime Minister has come up with for helping people in need. Quite extraordinary. So that's Peter Dutton. It makes me wonder if he's actually going to survive in the job. I mean, we've all sort of thought he's like the Terminator, right?

We've all sort of thought that he's this sort of relentless opposition machine. But he's no Tony Abbott. He's not even a Scott Morrison when it comes to a crisp line, I don't think. So it's funny, over the break, I was talking to a few people who have met and know Peter Dutton. And I was telling them my theory that actually, you know, he's pretty good at sticking to a script. He's, you know, with the right script, with the Crosby text, I'll outline this theory last year. With the right script, he's actually smart enough to be able to get away with it and Chuck a Tony Abbott. And everyone went, yeah, yeah, that's good, except he's no Tony Abbott and he's incredibly dumb.

And you've got to factor that in, right. Hang on a sec. I'm confused, though. Or is it that Tony Abbott was the dumb one? No, no, no, no. Apparently, in comparison, Tony Abbott's quite smart compared to this guy. Okay. That's what I've heard.

Yeah. Because I always thought the genius of Tony Abbott's opposition later was refusing to let anything else at all get in the way of his three words slogan. Sorry, by Tony Abbott, I was meaning Peter Credlin. That was just, that was just like a translation issue. Peter Credlin? Yeah, yeah. So the problem is that Peter Dutton doesn't have Peter Credlin. Yes, that's right.

Yes. They need the two Peters. What's she doing? Why is she wasting a time on Sky News? On Sky News, bring her back. When she could be coming up with dastardly three words slogans. Redraft Peter Credlin. That's what the nation needs.

To save us from Albo. From Albo's broken promises that deliver tax cuts to all, not just the writ. So what's this going to do to Albo's leadership, though? I mean, people do seem to be upset. Ever since I called the election for Dutton last year, which I'm feeling might have been just slightly like an unwise call. But we didn't think he'd, I mean, here's the funny thing. We didn't think he was going to do this.

We thought he was absolutely set on the stage three tax cuts because he didn't want to go back on his work. Yes. But you know what it has done? It's allowed him to be able to govern. Because the thing is, he kept on saying he wouldn't be able to do anything because he hadn't promised it in the election. And now that he's done this,

like he's justified it by saying, well, circumstances change when you're in government. Sometimes you've just got to do things that you didn't mention at the last election. So now he can actually govern. It's a very strange thing for him. He doesn't want to. Yeah, it's not what he wants to do. I mean, he was track kicking and screaming to giving tax relief to poor people.

This is over his dead body, pretty much. So are we going to continue doing this every day, Dom? Is this the plan this year? Because we, I think we're supposed to start on Monday. Yeah, Monday was a bit on us. But we just, um, we didn't. We didn't. But we're here now.

We're here now. And then what's the plan? Are we going to, because you're up in Brisbane. You're doing, should we just start? I'm in Brisbane. Why don't we start daily from next week? So, okay, start daily from now. There's plenty to digest with the State Street tax cut.

Yeah. We'll come in hard next week. We'll, we'll bring you the news of the day. Yeah. With some searing analysis a few hours late. Yeah. We do have a plan for this. We just sort of keep not doing it.

Yeah, we'll do it. I mean, look at Albao. He didn't want to go too far. too early with the stage three. Yeah. Look, and look, we know it's a broken promise, but that's, that's what happens. Circumstances changed. I was in Brisbane.

It was the right thing to do. Act, here's from Road. We're part of the O'Connell Class Network. I'll catch you later. See you.