TRANSCRIPT
"I want to repeat what I have said before on many occasions, the Liberal party, at a state and federal level, is back in town."
That's Opposition leader Peter Dutton at his unofficial campaign launch in Melbourne ahead of an upcoming Federal Election.
Speaking from the Labor-held electorate of Chisholm, Mr Dutton has pitched himself as Australia's next Prime Minister while outlining the party's election promises.
They include dealing with cost-of-living pressures, establishing nuclear power, and supporting small businesses.
"Rebalancing our migration program and fixing our housing crisis will be absolutely priority for Coalition government. Labor has opened the migration floodgates, a record of one million migrants have arrived in Labor's first two years. Migration has been great for our country, but it needs to be well managed."
Mr Dutton also vows to increasing numbers of general practitioners, building a closer relationship with Israel and acting tougher on crime.
"Friends, it's a new year, and it's an important one for our nation. This year, Australians will have an opportunity to remove a weak and incompetent government that has set our country backwards. This year, Australians will have an opportunity to elect a new government, a new, strong Coalition government, get our country back on track."
But not everyone is convinced by Mr Dutton's speech.
Outside the Liberal party rally, a group of protesters chanted their opposition to Mr Dutton's nuclear energy policy.
"Hey hey, ho ho, nuclear has got to go. Hey hey, ho ho, nuclear has got to go."
The Liberal party wants to win back the seats of Chisholm and Aston, which they lost to Labor during the 2022 federal election and a by-election in 2023.
Both Chisholm and Aston have a significant Chinese population - almost one third of residents in Chisholm are of Chinese heritage, while 14.1 per cent of population in Aston are of Chinese identity.
Dr Zareh Ghazarian is a political scientist from Monash University.
He says the two seats are key for the Coalition's potential victory in the upcoming election.
"For the Coalition, the test is really in the eastern suburbs of Victoria. That's where the marginal seats are. Seats such as Chisholm and Aston which the Opposition, the Coalition has identified as being seats that it really wants to win. They have held a margin of less than four per cent. So we on the election night see that these are the seats that the Coalition is making ground in."
Peter Dutton's soft launch comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off Labor's unofficial election campaign last week in Queensland and Western Australia.
Mr Albanese has promised big investments in infrastructure and housing, including upgrades to Queensland's notorious Bruce Highway and $200 million funding in housing for regional Western Australia.
Dr Ghazarian says Labor can't afford to lose any seats if it wants to remain in government.
"The Labor party and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese find himself in a pretty difficult position, compared to 2022 when things were really going their way, they were fronting a fairly unpopular Prime Minister Scott Morrison, fairly unpopular government in terms of the Coalition. This time things are a bit different. This time it was Albanese and Labor that appears to be on the note."
The 2022 federal election also saw the rise of a group of independents, known as teals, taking seats from major parties, especially from the Liberals.
Dr Ghazarian says the teals benefitted from the unpopularity of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the growing concerns of climate change, and an apparent lack of integrity in politics.
And now, Dr Ghazarian says these independents need to consider whether these issues are still the core of their campaign.
"And if so, will they be able to consolidate the support they experienced in 2022. So, it's very difficult for independents to win seats. But it's also fairly difficult for a major party to win a seat of an independent at later elections."
The federal election date is yet to be revealed but it must be held by May of this year.
