Sunrise is joined by columnist, Susie O'Brien and journalist, Joe Hildebrand to discuss the major party leaders launching their pre-election campaigns and exploring strategies to secure widespread support.
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The Prime Minister is today embarking on a pre-election campaign-style blitz across the country, travelling to Queensland, the Northern Territory and WA this week, with a pitch on "building Australia's future" with an election that some Labour insiders' tip could be called as early as April. Peter Dutton is also kicking off his unofficial campaign by trying to soften his image on social media. The opposition leader has begun posting messages about togetherness and participating in podcasts to reach younger voters. Or for their take, let's bring in columnist Susie O'Brien and journalist Joe Hilderbrand, both who have come back from holidays just to do business. So my pleasure. It's a continuation of the holiday. Don't we really appreciate it? No, we're hard-hitting stuff, Joe. Prime Minister, getting out early, doing these blitz, is he going to make any difference? Look, I think it will. I think one of the interesting things is, so previously, and I was very critical of this, the government's strategy had been just to demonise Dutton and to make him look like the Donald Trump of Australia. We're also what the actual Donald Trump of America just did a couple of months ago at the election there. This, obviously, has caused the Labour Party to completely pivot in its approach. You can't just now say, look, you don't want that guy, do you? Because increasingly, as the polls show, people are looking at that guy. I think maybe we do want him. I think this has been good for the government as well, because it's meant that the government is out to go out and be positive to actually think about what it stands for, what it is delivering voters, not just running cheap and nasty scare campaigns. I think it's great that the PM is getting out there. I think Labour still can sort of scrubble together a minority government that doesn't involve the Greens or the Teels, hopefully. So God willing, it will make, it will be the wake-up call the government. Interesting who should talk about scare campaign, because Susie Peter Dutton has released sort of a softer approach in videos. We saw, particularly towards the end of last year, the coalition definitely hitting that scare campaign a lot more. He seems to be making a bit of an each-way bet, though, now. We're seeing him doing this podcast. It's with a younger podcaster, obviously trying to attract younger voters, but seems to be going between this scare campaign, but also talking about togetherness and unity. Can a bet each-way work? Well, we're going to be seeing a lot more of these two in Victoria, because there are four seats in Victoria, which are absolutely key, and the big part of that is Dutton softening his image, particularly down here, because he has been a real drain on the coalition vote. So as you say, Mon, he's doing podcasts. He's talking about family togetherness. He's talking about getting a belly flop. He's talking about family values. It's a key pitch to younger voters and women. As Joe's saying, we've seen in the US, there's a lot of gender division in voting. But what's really funny about Dutton is that it does seem to be working, but he's still, at the moment, on a net zero likeability down from minus 12. So he does have a really long way to go. But the other thing that's really interesting down here in Victoria is that there was a negative ad involving Dutton put out by the state Labor Party, basically saying that his poking fun at his wife and saying, "Oh, they're one of those couples that you know that they're not really happy together." And Albanese came straight out and said, "That's not on. We don't want to see that." As he had to. Yep. That was a disgraceful ad. And an indication of just how juvenile the left of the Labor Party is, especially in Victoria. That was absolutely disgraceful, a massive iron goal, and good old Albo for fixing up their pathetic mess. There was an absolute dog act. Yep. Agree. Agree. Thank goodness it was dealt with very swiftly. All right. Now, finally, how far would you go for a good deal? We were having this discussion in the office this morning. Our boss, Jake, revealed at the prime of his life, he spent two and a half hours of his Sunday shopping at IKEA for a toilet brush. He bought the Bolman, which is there on the left of his screen. It was only two bucks. Yes, it was a very good deal. And then we got online and we compared it to a similar style brush at the local Kmart, which he could have got for five bucks down from 750. Now, to top it off, he spent 21 bucks on the meatballs at IKEA, reckons he's done very well for himself. Joe, how far would you go for a good deal? Jake is the hero that got for the needs right now. Jake is someone who leads by doing, not just talking. This is someone who puts his money, where his mouth is, less money, which is important. I spent half of yesterday afternoon just sitting parked at a servo because the LPG was just waiting. Just waiting at this servo was 92.7 cents instead of 94.9 cents at the 7-11 down the road. It's like making good time. You're going to have a better trip. That's right. And it took me about two hours because half the city was doing the same thing. And when I got home, I thought deserved it. Good about yourself. I like the severity with which that you are, you know, and the intensity with which that you're taking. You've got to care. Susie, I really hope that you're doing the same thing. What I could think about was Jake's feelings of elation every time that he looked at that $2 bullman, which frankly is a genius name, the bullman toilet brush. Do you feel better about something if you know you've got a good deal for it? It reminds me of a boyfriend a year ago who used to get his head shaped every time he had a haircut because he wanted to get his $8 worth. You know what? I hope your boss doesn't take the $2 IKEA special over to pay review time because you'd be hoping that you'd get the designer exclusive model rather than the $2 IKEA bonus. But you know what? I think everybody, the tide ask kind of is the Aussie way and we just have to love it at this time of year. Whether it's Boxing Day sales or the Black Friday sales, we love it. It takes a day to my ear and said, Amen. Absolutely, he's in agreement. Jake may long enjoy the bullman. Thank you both so much for coming back from your holidays. We really appreciate it. Such a delight to see you both. Likewise, especially that last topic.
