Peter Dutton’s team have looted economic policies used to fight past wars – and it’s not working in 2025

As the economy turns, the Coalition finds itself out of step with the electorate.

Committed to a strategy of reminding Australians about the past three miserable years, Peter Dutton has overlearned the lessons of 2024, when voters angry at the soaring cost of living toppled a swathe of governments.

If Anthony Albanese was unlucky to inherit the most inflationary economy in a generation, the tide has turned at the right moment as he battles for a second term.

The surest marker of this sea change was the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate cut on 18 February – the first in more than four years and confirmation that the battle to contain inflation was largely won.

The mortgage relief may have been minor but the change in psychology has been profound.

It’s a major reason why the killer question, “Are you better off now than three years ago?” has lost some of its potency in 2025.

Which is not to say cost of living does not remain top of mind for a huge number of households.

Australia is a markedly more expensive place to live than it was three years ago – and it wasn’t cheap then, either.

We’re reminded of how little our money buys every time we do the grocery shopping, pay our insurance premiums, or try to get a tradie in to fix something in the house.

Yet with a week to go to the election, polls show the Coalition is losing the mortgage belt, and is in a weaker position now than when the campaign began three weeks ago.