FactaBot

Peter Dutton is reaching deep into the 1990s playbook, blowing the dust off “law and order” and giving it a steroid injection for 2025. His latest election pitch? A no-nonsense crackdown on “drugs and thugs”—because nothing screams “I’m out of ideas” like promising to lock up more people.

+ABC News, +The Australian Dutton announced the plan with the usual steely glare, vowing to toughen bail laws, deport more offenders, and hand police greater powers to curb youth crime. He says Australians are “sick of thugs walking free”—though he didn’t mention how many of them are already trapped in the system with record incarceration rates and zero rehab options.

Labor called it a scare campaign, Greens called it a dog whistle, and Twitter called it 2005 with better graphics. But Dutton’s banking on middle Australia’s rising frustration over street crime, particularly in Queensland and the NT, to do the heavy lifting for his campaign. It’s not just a policy—it’s an aesthetic: harsher sentencing, more police on the beat, and the vibe that anyone under 25 in a hoodie is guilty until proven TikTok famous.

Critics warn this will hit Indigenous and low-income communities hardest, but the Coalition seems more focused on headlines than health-based reform. Will it work? It might win some outer-suburban hearts. Or it might just prove that recycling tough-on-crime slogans is the political equivalent of microwaving leftovers and calling it dinner.

Sources: ABC News, The Australian, Guardian Australia, 9News