Peter Dutton has confirmed the Coalition’s election promise to allow first homebuyers to use $50,000 of their superannuation to buy a home will be extended to divorced women.
Mr Dutton said ‘restoring the dream of home ownership’ will be a key policy area in the Opposition’s campaign to win the 2025 election.
‘Entering the property market shouldn’t be limited to those who can rely on the bank of mum and dad,’ he said on Sunday.
‘That’s why a Coalition Government will allow Australians to access up to $50,000 of their super to buy their first home. And we will extend that policy to assist separated women.’
Mr Dutton also launched an extraordinary attack on Anthony Albanese, saying Australians had suffered under him and his government.
‘Under this Albanese Labor government, I’ve seen the mood of Australians change,’ he said.
‘They’ve suffered under one of our country’s weakest ever prime ministers.
‘For so many Australians, aspiration has been replaced by anxiety. Optimism has turned to pessimism and national confidence changed to dispiritedness.’
Peter Dutton (pictured) has confirmed the Coalition’s election promise to allow first homebuyers to use $50,000 of their super to buy a home will be extended to divorced women
With the federal election due by May, the Opposition leader was making an early start in the Melbourne seat of Chisholm, which the Liberals hope to win back.
In his first major rally after the summer break, Mr Dutton said the Coalition would ‘get Australia back on track’ and he would lead a government based on the ‘views, values and vision’ of everyday Australians.
He said over the last three years, the country had ‘endured one of the most incompetent governments in our nation’s history.
‘As a result, Australians are worse off. Our country is less safe. Our society is less cohesive.’
A fired up Mr Dutton also addressed migration, which is set to be a major election issue for both major parties.
‘We will reduce the permanent migration program by 25 per cent for two years – from 185,000 to 140,000 places,’ he said.
‘In years three and four, we will return to a sustainable 150,000 and 160,000 places.’
But his careful use of a four-year plan and the phrase ‘permanent migration’ has left open the door to sustaining some temporary visa levels.
Mr Dutton also reiterated his vow for ‘stricter caps on foreign students,’ after the Coalition refused to back the Government’s Bill to limit 2025 enrolments to 270,000 new enrolments.
Addressing an audience of Liberal Party members, he spoke about Indigenous policy commitments, including bringing back the Cashless Debit Card, which was dropped by Labor.
Mr Dutton called Anthony Albanese (pictured) ‘one of our country’s weakest ever prime ministers’
If the Coalition won the coming election, it would reintroduce the system for working-aged welfare recipients in ‘Indigenous communities where drugs and alcohol are prevalent’.
Mr Dutton said this would be done in ‘consultation with communities,’ in order to ensure children were ‘getting the support from their parents that they deserve’.
‘Labor has lost its energy to address this issue. But with the defeat of the Voice, we have an opportunity to move away from symbolic gestures, activist-driven agendas, and more Canberra-based bureaucracy,’ he said.
‘We can press ahead with a Dutton Coalition government’s priority to focus on practical action for Indigenous Australians.
‘As (Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Jacinta Price said, it’s time to dispense with the racial stereotyping which treats all Aboriginal people the same.’
He said a victorious Coalition government would also have a full audit into spending on Indigenous programs, and promised a Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse in Indigenous Communities.
Mr Dutton also hammered home the Coalition’s recurring message – that Australians can’t afford to re-elect Anthony Albanese and Labor.
‘I think the past three years are a good indication of what the future will look like under a returned Labor government,’ he said.
‘That’s a future Australians can’t afford … And the next federal election is a sliding doors moment for our nation.’
He aimed his pitch at what he called ‘compassionate, stoic, fair and quietly patriotic’ Australians, echoing previously successful Liberal campaigns.
Robert Menzies – Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister – spoke in the 1950s about the ‘forgotten people’.
In the mid-1990s John Howard – Australia’s second longest serving Prime Minister – spoke about helping the ‘battlers’ who were doing it tough under Labor.
More recently, when Scott Morrison won the 2019 election – which the Coalition was widely expected to lose – he said it was a victory for the ‘quiet Australians’.
