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Peter Dutton has hinted he will follow in the footsteps of parts of Donald Trump’s successful campaign and focus heavily on the cost of living ahead of next year’s federal election.
Trump has often reminded his supporters that American households are in worse financial shape now than they were at the end of his last term four years ago.
Speaking with Today this morning Dutton said there was an “eerie parallel” between the two nations on that front.
“I think part of the problem in the United States was that people didn’t believe that the government was listening to them when they couldn’t pay their bills, their mortgages, their insurance, their rent. It was going up,” he said.
“They just seem to have felt a real disconnect, some of the analysis.
“To be honest, there’s an eerie parallel to what’s happening here in Australia, in that sense…
“The reality for many families sitting at kitchen tables right now is that they’re pulling their hair out and can’t pay the bills, and people are having to sell their homes because they just can’t afford the mortgage payments.
“So I think there are some parallels, but there are other parts that don’t have an equivalent here in Australia.”
Government minister Bill Shorten admitted there were some parallels, but said he hoped there would be no repeat of the Australian election.
“The cost of living has obviously been one of the problems in America,” he said.
“I think there were a lot of moving parts in the US election and I’ll leave it to time and the experts to work out each factor.
“In Australia we’ve been lucky in recent times with a government that has focused on the cost of living and that’s our number one priority.
“Times are tough for Australians with mortgage rates and pressure, but we are introducing measures to try to alleviate some of that.
“So hopefully it’s not an identical situation to Australia.”
Federal elections must be held by the end of May.
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