Peter Dutton has told the Coalition party room to stop leaking internal policy debates and frustrations to the media, warning it could cost them the election.
Multiple Coalition sources unable to speak publicly about the party room discussion on Tuesday have confirmed the opposition leader criticised destabilising leaks that have led to critical headlines, as first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
“[Dutton] made the point that he didn’t think it was reasonable,” one Coalition source said. “That he didn’t think it was good timing and that it was risky. He made the point that it could be damaging for us. He said it was the wrong time to be ventilating this.
“He said [the leaking] was very risky at this stage and that it was just better to deal with this later.”
Another Coalition source said Dutton described the leaks as “unhelpful and counterproductive and urged people to be disciplined”.
“He said it could make the difference in a few seats and be the difference between majority or minority government for us,” the Coalition source said. “Hardly rocket science”.
Another source said the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, urged people to stop publicly criticising the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor. A separate source said there was a show of support from other colleagues for Taylor, but did not describe it as “a rally” for him.
Kos Samaras, a former Labor strategist and RedBridge director, said the leaking of an warning not to leak indicated “panic on the Coalition side”.
“They all love to look like they’re winning in the polls,” Samaras told the ABC. “The minute it turns ugly, we see this behaviour. Fortunately for both sides, the Australian public are paying little attention to this.”
In recent weeks, Liberal backbenchers have expressed concerns about some of the Coalition’s policy proposals including its position on working from home, which has raised significant concern in the ranks.
One Coalition source told Guardian Australia that “flexible work arrangements are cherished in many households and it looks like we [the Coalition] don’t get that”. Another said: “It does nothing to actually build [our economic policy] or point to what we’re good at.”
Coalition frontbenchers have also had to respond to stories about internal policy discussions, including a potential referendum to give the government power to deport criminals with dual nationality. Internal talking points on this issue were also leaked to the media.
Coalition MPs have spoken to Guardian Australia about unrest over an apparent lack of policy and the need for big-ticket economic items to sell to voters before the election. Others have spoken about the need to protect foreign aid funding.
Last week, one MP said members and candidates in the party “don’t want to be going to an election without anything to sell”.
Other Coalition MPs have briefed the Australian Financial Review on an internal “tit-for-tat war” between camps aligned with either Dutton or Taylor, with concerns that “not enough policy work has been done”.
