Peter Dutton bids for the mantle of conspiracy-theorist-in-chief

While Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is, understandably, fairly short on detailed policy at this stage of the electoral cycle, one thing he’s not short on is conspiracy theories.

As Crikey has previously detailed, Dutton has been spruiking the conspiracy theory that the campaign for a Voice to Parliament is an elite plot against ordinary Australians, with business leaders, academics, sporting codes and people living in capital cities all plotting together to impose constitutional change (to do what is unclear, but conspiracy theories don’t really need a “why”, just a “who”).

The idea of an elite cabal plotting against ordinary people is the ur-conspiracy theory, the concentrate from which all others are made, the template into which the theorist can slot any group, individual or collective. The elite cabal is always clever, tricky, amoral in its tactics, willing to do whatever it takes to retain or expand its power.

Consider another conspiracy theory that Dutton and his media allies have peddled: that the Uluru Statement from the Heart is not one page but instead a secret document 26 pages long.

First put forward by Sky News’ Peta Credlin after circulating among the far-right online — though even fellow Sky News hosts ridiculed it — then taken up by Dutton’s opposition in parliament, the conspiracy theory, like Dutton’s broader one about the elite cabal, is a theory in search of a crime. The 26-pagers can’t identify exactly what the purpose of this “secret” longer document is (all of which has been publicly available for years) except to describe a “paganistic” “dystopia”.

But Dutton’s conspiracy theories go further when it comes to the Voice. Not merely are business leaders, the football codes and capital city inhabitants part of the elite plot against ordinary Australians, but so is the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

In August, Dutton directly accused the AEC of “trying to provide favour to one side in a democratic election”, and of intending to “artificially skew the count towards the Yes vote, and fail to accurately reflect the will of the Australian people”. He went on to claim: “Normally the approach of the AEC is that if somebody’s intent is clear, then they acknowledge that as a vote, but what we’re seeing here is quite a departure from that.”

However factually wrong Dutton was, it’s as serious an allegation as it’s possible to make about Australian democracy. The parallels with, and derivation from, Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s election denialism in the US are obvious. US-derived conspiracy theories about the AEC and state election bodies are already rife within the far right in Australia, including the old trope of voter fraud — which is also a persistent claim from the Liberal Party — leading to harassment of election workers.

With the AEC now part of the elite conspiracy to impose a Voice by referendum (Dutton himself wants to impose one by legislation, but that’s a minor detail), he leaves the way open to claiming the next federal election will be rigged as well, in the event the Coalition loses.

The Voice isn’t the only conspiracy theory put forward by Dutton. Labor has a secret “big Australia” agenda, he argued in his budget reply earlier this year. “Anthony Albanese’s ‘big Australia’ policy wasn’t something that he announced at the last election,” Dutton said, and kept repeating that line: “The government didn’t go to the election announcing their ‘big Australia’ policy, but that’s what we’ve got from the prime minister.”

Dutton’s immigration spokesman Dan Tehan has been an enthusiastic proponent of what he calls Labor’s “big Australia by stealth” policy (a phrase also used by Deputy Leader Sussan Ley), though this tripped Tehan up in June when he wanted to attack Labor for proposing to limit backpackers to 12 months in Australia (the horticultural and agricultural industries, and thus the Nationals, love exploiting backpackers). Reducing the number of temporary migrants in Australia thus became for Tehan an example of how “they’ve singled backpackers out to sort of be one of the victims of their big Australia approach”.

Aside from the fact that any really good conspiracy theory is actually strengthened by evidence it is wrong, Tehan’s “big Australia by stealth” theory that included reductions in the number of migrants is emblematic of the hypocrisy that accompanies this turn to the paranoid by Dutton. Although Dutton as immigration minister under the previous government belatedly reduced permanent immigration when he lost control of our borders amid a wave of abuse by fake asylum seekers, in 2019 Australia had a record level of temporary migrants — nearly 2 million of them — which dwarfed the small cut to permanent migration.

If there was a “big Australia by stealth” — via easily exploited foreign students and working holidaymakers and temporary workers — lurking behind official figures of a cut in migration, it was under Dutton in 2019. Just as the claims of an elite plot to impose a Voice are being made by a true elite of Australia’s richest and most powerful individuals.

It’s one thing to believe in conspiracy theories, but it’s next-level stuff to warn of them while carrying them out yourself.

Does Peter Dutton really believe these arguments? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.