Politico reports:

Donald Trump may not have been on Australia’s ballot paper, but his shadow loomed large all the same.

Over his three years as opposition leader, Peter Dutton, the hard-right prime ministerial candidate of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia, embraced MAGA-style politics and bigged up Trump. In February, for instance, Dutton called Trump a “big thinker” and lauded his “art of the deal” negotiation tactics after the American president called for the U.S. to take over Gaza and turn it into a Middle East Riviera.

Dutton’s campaign borrowed heavily from the U.S. Republican Party’s policies under Trump, with the Liberal leader arguing for significant cuts to the public service and championing a DOGE-inspired government efficiency unit. Dutton also unveiled (and then abandoned) a policy to force all public servants in the Australian capital Canberra back into the office full-time.

Dutton’s embrace of MAGA policies backfired spectacularly.

Albanese and the Labor Party successfully argued the work-from-home ban would limit women’s access to the workforce; that the cuts to the public service would lead to reduced services and DOGE-style chaos.

But it was the U.S. president’s increasing unpopularity in Australia that really hurt Dutton’s image.

The public sharply turned against Trump after he berated Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy in a disastrous meeting in the White House in late February, and soured further after Trump slapped tariffs on countries including Australia in April.

A poll by YouGov for Australia’s Q&A program last month found 66 percent of respondents said the U.S. couldn’t be trusted as a security ally, up from 39 percent last June. YouGov Director of Public Data Paul Smith called the shift a “fundamental change of worldview.” Seven in 10 Australians reported being concerned Trump would make them poorer. [Continue reading…]