Who's the real ‘Aussie Trump’?
Plus: Albo hits the podcast circuit.
There are a few contenders vying to take on the mantle of ‘the Australian Donald Trump’.
When Peter Dutton’s not being mocked on social media as ‘Peggy Sue’, he’s being mocked as ‘Temu Trump’. The opposition leader has been leaning into Trumpian rhetoric on immigration, DEI, and government inefficiency – although he’s having it both ways, downplaying the parallels and calling out Trump for his stance on Ukraine.
Clive Palmer reckons Dutton could go further and has taken it upon himself to try and claim the vacant territory. Launching his campaign with the Trumpet of Patriots party this week, Palmer told The Sydney Morning Herald: “Dutton said he’s no Donald Trump. I say what’s wrong with being Donald Trump?”
Palmer is saying his party will deliver Australia’s next Prime Minister, stop Qantas from making acknowledgements of country, and solve the housing crisis by implementing high-speed rail. Unlike his last outfit the United Australia Party, which largely focussed on Labor seats, Trumpet of Patriots appears to be targeting the Coalition. I suspect the end result will still benefit Dutton by redirecting preferences from voters seeking anti-establishment alternatives back to the Coalition.
The only parliamentarian elected by the United Australia Party, Senator Ralph Babet, is not up for reelection this time round and so won’t be running with Trumpet of Patriots. He’s surely the most MAGA-brained Australian parliamentarian. On a visit to Parliament House earlier this month, I managed to snap a quick photo of the display outside his office as I was hustled past. It featured a Trump figurine, a lump of coal, and a chart showing Australia’s emissions relative to the rest of the world:
Our guest on the podcast this week found a hack – the quickest way to become the Aussie Trump is to legally change your name to Aussie Trump. The WA Upper House member previously known as Ben Dawkins sat down with The Last Place on Earth to explain whether his name change was anything more than an election stunt:
Jesse Noakes
We were also in the right place at the right time this week to break the story (later picked up by the MSM) that Aussie Trump’s conspicuous office on the main street of Bunbury had been vandalised with an attempt at a swastika:
Jesse Noakes
Ultimately, all of these contenders lack something Donald Trump has in spades: charisma. Dutton can menace, but he can’t riff. Palmer seems too desperate, displaying photos of himself and Tucker Carlson in an attempt to borrow some conservative cred. Babet is less of a Trumpian figure and more like one of the fringe weirdos Trump draws into his orbit. And Aussie Trump probably won’t pull off a Trumpian electoral upset as the third candidate listed on an independent Upper House ticket.
Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese seems to be drawing from the Kamala Harris playbook, looking to bolster support amongst women voters. On Valentine’s Day, he posted a video of himself and fiance Jodie Hayden answering questions about their relationship. This week, he did interviews with both Women’s Weekly and popular podcaster/influencer Abbie Chatfield. In all three, he discussed the couple’s engagement. When explaining the big day wouldn’t happen before the election, Women’s Weekly said: “It means too much to both of them to have it tangled up in politics and publicity.” Sure…
On Chatfield’s show It’s A Lot, Albo seemed fairly comfortable and competent with the long-form podcast format, cracking jokes about his wedding date, his DJ sets, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show before getting into policy discussions. He defended his record on climate and Gaza in response to questions from self-identified Greens voter Chatfield – but she didn’t exactly push hard. Chatfield’s position is that a Dutton win must be avoided at all costs, and so there’s nothing to be gained from going too hard on Labor. “I do think we have to be realistic with this election,” she said in her introduction to the episode. “It’s very, very close. It’s too close to be spending my time debating the Prime Minister and berating him when what I want to do is question him on things that worry me and worry you and let him answer and move on to the next topic.” For that, she’s copped plenty of flak online from the further left. Chatfield covered plenty of policy ground – this was no Roganesque ramble. But in her eagerness to identify differences between the major parties, she overlooked their core similarity – they’re both beholden to the same big corporate interests.
Chatfield says Dutton and Malcolm Turnbull both turned down invitations to join her podcast, but her interview with Adam Bandt is coming soon.
Australian politicians are obviously keen to hit the podcast circuit, but they might run out of shows to go on soon. Forget the Aussie Donald Trump, who’s the Aussie Joe Rogan? (Hamish and Andy?) The Guardian predicts this might be Australia’s ‘influencer election’, but there could be a couple of barriers to that. Firstly, given the cultural dominance of the US, our influencers and podcasters don’t have anywhere near the same level of cut through. Secondly, our politicians are boring, and I suspect many online personalities would prefer to steer clear of them. I reckon there’d be more than a few ‘thanks but no thanks’ emails from podcasters sitting in the inboxes of various candidates’ media advisors right now.
Still, Chatfield’s softball interview with Albo will likely help him with her audience of young women, and the many Australians who aren’t engaging with the news will be influenced by what they’ve seen on their feeds when it comes time to vote. We’re going down the same track as the US, but as is so often the case, the intensity’s dialled down a few notches.
