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By MAX AITCHISON, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 23:31 BST, 6 April 2025 | Updated: 23:54 BST, 6 April 2025
Peter Dutton has started the second week of the federal election campaign on the back foot.The Opposition Leader has backflipped on his bid to force public servants back into the office five days a week after it bombed with women.He was also forced to dump a candidate after he made allegedly sexist comments about female members of the Australian Defence Force. Labor will be seeking to capitalise on these missteps today. Follow Daily Mail Australia’s live campaign coverage. Dutton’s tense exchange on TodayThe Opposition Leader has not had a good morning.He was forced to defend the Coalition’s decision to dump their drive to push all public servants back into the office five days a week, while also amending heir policy to cut 41,000 bureaucrats.‘Well Sarah, that was always the plan, and there would be natural attrition and a hiring freeze,’ Mr Dutton told the Today.‘Hey Peter, I’m sorry,’ host Sarah Abo cut hin.‘I’m struggling to keep up, you’re saying it was always the plan, but it wasn’t the plan. You wanted to cut back 41,000 jobs … how can they have both always been the plan? It doesn’t make sense.’A visibly frustrated Mr Dutton insisted there was no change to the costing.‘There’s no change to the costing at all because the original plan of the natural attrition and freezing was what we’d always had,’ he responded,‘It’s the way in which Labor’s contorted that into something else.’Mr Dutton accused the Prime Minister of whipping up a scare campaign over their WFH policy.But he admitted the Coalition had ‘made a mistake’.Watch the tense exchange below:Coalition’s huge call on WFH policyPeter DuttonAustralia Politics
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LIVE: Election 2025 – Tense moment Peter Dutton is grilled after announcing huge changes to TWO of his key election policies – as he ADMITS he made a mistake
