Opposition Leader Peter Dutton won’t be gracing the national job summit in Canberra next month.
Despite an invitation from Treasurer Jim Chalmers, he has dismissed the gathering as a stunt. And while some readers might fancy Rupert’s newspaper titles as Coalition chat rooms, it is apparently the fault of Murdoch’s national daily.
“The fact that Jim Chalmers wrote to me and then within a couple of hours dropped it to The Australian newspaper demonstrates it is nothing more than a stunt,” fumed Dutton on Wednesday.
The summit, for September 1 and 2, has conjured up memories of a similar event staged by the new Hawke government in 1983, which set up co-operation between business, government and unions. The Albanese team is understandably keen to tie its economic fortunes to that reforming government.
Union coverage has fallen away since 1983, but the ACTU has quite a wish-list for the summit: tighter regulation of the labour market including changes to enterprise bargaining; an attack on insecure work; and a levy on windfall profits.
The Coalition might have had a lot to say about all that. But its leader won’t be there to press his own solutions to rampant inflation and all of Australia’s other economic challenges.
If Dutton keeps shooting himself in the foot, the 1000 days to the next election will come quickly indeed.
At least Nationals leader David Littleproud has accepted his invitation.
Mark Sawyer is a journalist with extensive experience in print and digital media in Sydney, Melbourne and rural Australia.