Going nuclear on power and wages may not be the election winner Peter Dutton thinks it is

‘Dutton is dribbling out policy at such a slow rate he has left open-ended which other bits of Labor’s workplace reforms the Coalition would tear up.’ Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Peter Dutton’s budget reply sets the Coalition up for an election campaign focused on migration and law and order. At least, that’s the election he wants because it’s one he thinks he could win.

But Dutton’s policy-lite speech contains the seeds of campaigns that will inevitably be deployed by the progressive side of politics: on nuclear and wages.