Yes, division is Dutton’s business model. But so is damaging national security.

Peter Dutton’s insistence that no Palestinian from Gaza be allowed to enter Australia on a humanitarian visa — or, presumably, for any other reason — because they are automatically a national security risk, won’t surprise too many people. It’s been clear for most of Dutton’s time as opposition leader that his primary business model, derived partly from Tony Abbott but mostly from Donald Trump, is to exacerbate division and demonise groups that are powerless enough to be othered without fear of backlash.

You’ll notice for example, that Dutton, once a vehement critic of China prone to attacking Labor MPs as “the Manchurian candidate”, has left most of the Coalition’s attacks on China to acolyte and home affairs shadow minister James Paterson (currently trapped in the Senate because winnable seats in Victoria are thin on the ground for the Liberals), recognising that Dutton’s and Scott Morrison’s hardline anti-Beijing rhetoric played a big role in losing seats with the substantial Chinese-Australia vote in 2022.