'Temu Trump': expert weighs in on Dutton for PM

Australian Community Media

Critics have been calling Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton ‘Temu Trump’ due to his supposed similarities to the US President. ACM ask an expert at The Australia Institute if the nickname is warranted.

Transcript

00:00Prime Minister's trying to compare you to Donald Trump. Is that a compliment or a slight...

00:04Prime Minister, why would you invite Donald Trump to Australia when you've got a Timu

00:08Trump sitting right opposite you?

00:11Name calling has been an unfortunate staple part of any election campaign.

00:17But even before the federal election was called in 2025, journalists, politicians and punters

00:25alike were referring to the opposition leader as Timu Trump.

00:30So where did this name come from? And why has it been assigned so readily to the coalition leader,

00:36Peter Dutton?

00:37From what Australians have seen thus far, they'd be forgiven for thinking that you are right up

00:41Donald Trump's arse.

00:43Well, that might be a Labour line, but it's just not true.

00:46The nickname Timu Trump is warranted because it's clear that Dutton is attempting to emulate

00:51or copy even Trump's politics, you know, and what he sees as Trump's successful retail politics.

00:58Perhaps the more important question is, will it work?

01:01The name has become a shorthand suggestion that the coalition leader may promote policies similar

01:07to those of US President Donald Trump. But is it fair to say that Peter Dutton's election promises

01:14are all that similar to the policies of Donald Trump? If elected, Peter Dutton pledges to cut

01:2141,000 public servant jobs to reduce government spending. Whereas Donald Trump introduced the

01:28Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, under Elon Musk, which led to tens of thousands

01:35of job losses within the first few months of the Trump presidency.

01:40I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency.

01:45So she will take on the important role of shadow minister for government efficiency.

01:49You're all obsessed with Donald Trump. We're not.

01:52We can make Australia great again, that we can bring Australia back to its former glory,

01:57that we can get Australia back on track.

02:01Peter Dutton has taken some quote-unquote lessons, I suppose, from Trump's victory in

02:08the United States, and is quite clearly emulating many of Trump's lines around things like, you

02:17know, woke-ism and its effect on young white men in particular.

02:22Both Trump and Dutton have taken particular aim at so-called political correctness in government.

02:29Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It's gone.

02:33I think a lot of young males feel disenfranchised and feel ostracised.

02:40But even with the comparisons in hand, US politics expert Dr Emma Shortis says you can't

02:47completely compare the two politicians, since the systems of government in either country

02:53differ so much.

02:54So mobilising different voter bases is critical to a victory in a presidential election, as

03:02is suppressing or, I suppose, turning away other groups from voting at all.

03:10And Trump did that really successfully.

03:12That's not a strategy that the Coalition can, I think, successfully pursue in Australia,

03:17because we have compulsory voting.

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