Federal election 2025: Joe Spagnolo: Peter Dutton’s rehabilitation tour of WA was tarnished by the past

Peter Dutton’s rehabilitation tours of WA didn’t work. West Ozzies didn’t much like Dutton at the start of this election because he was an integral part of that much-disliked Scott Morrison government and Cabinet. And that didn’t change. As Andre Agassi so beautifully put it: Image is everything - even in politics. Dutton tried to soften his image and win the WA love by visiting the west as much as he could. But that didn’t work. It wasn’t so much that WA loved Albo. It was a case, they liked him more than Dutton. And Labor knew that. Labor’s election strategy in WA was pretty clear. Labor’s strategy was about pitting incumbents not against Liberal candidates – but against Dutton. It was Labor MPs versus Dutton here in the wild, wild west. Dutton also seemed to be a lone voice here in WA. Apart from Michaelia Cash, it would appear the Liberals did not want the likes of Andrew Hastie to pop up their heads in WA this election. Dutton’s plan to win over WA appeared to be more about the Liberal leader blaming Albanese about the woes besieging Australia - and the west - rather than winning over voters with his own policies. For mine, once he announced a nuclear power plant for Collie – as part of a national plan for seven nuclear reactors – he should have stuck with that and made it a central part of his WA-sell. No matter that nuclear power is a controversial topic. I believe Dutton barely mentioning his nuclear plan for WA last year, and then staying away from Collie - apart from one quick visit last year – made him look second rate and not believable. He looked like a leader with fart-bubble policies.