John Parry

How much more grubby can Australian politics get? Australians have every right to question who gets taxpayer money. But when Helen Haines questioned Albanese’s community sports grants, his office circulated a dirt sheet attacking her integrity. It’s despicable. And the Liberals play the same grubby game. In August, The Australian newspaper identified two “dirt unit” researchers working in Angus Taylor’s office. And a Labor strategist was recently quoted about having dirt sheets on One Nation, saying: “We’ve got a lot on One Nation … But unlike the Liberals we’re holding it back.” A Labor MP was reported last month saying: “Throwing shit at them risks making them more popular.” Read that again. This is how they talk about attacking their opponents behind closed doors. They can’t defend their records. They can’t sell their policies. So they feed dirt to the media and trash reputations. The major parties have taken turns running our country into the ground. Australians are struggling to pay their bills while the major parties use taxpayer-funded staff to shovel dirt. Australians deserve politicians focused on their lives, their families and their futures. Instead, they get an incompetent, dishonest government and an opposition playing the same dirty games. Our country deserves better.