Dutton’s too scared of homeowners to REALLY go after migration

In an ideal world, Peter Dutton would replicate the achievement of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. Not because he’s as bigoted, or racist, or Islamophobic, as the Dutchman, but because the latter has showcased how a right-wing politician can exploit housing and immigration for considerable political success.

Wilders’ recent success — having purported to have moved away from the bigotry that characterised his earlier career — has been based on linking a shortage of affordable housing to migration, and promising to fix the former by cutting the latter. Undoubtedly, this also gives racist and anti-immigrant Dutch voters legitimate cover for views they would espouse regardless of whether housing was a problem.