CAITLYN RINTOUL: Families come into soft focus for Peter Dutton’s final five days of campaign

With just five days left until election day, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spent Monday attempting to soften his image and appeal to female voters, a key demographic where he has struggled in polling.

During a visit to Markspoint in NSW’s Labor-held seat of Shortland, Mr Dutton posed for photos with a baby—a classic politician cliche — before meeting with a young family and domestic violence advocates in Robertson.

This comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took a dig at Dutton during the final leaders’ debate, accusing him of visiting marginal seats where the Liberal Party would only field male candidates.

Both Shortland and Robertson have female Liberal candidates running, but Albanese’s comments highlighted the perception that the Coalition continues to struggle with its engagement with women.

At a local cafe in Shortland, Mr Dutton was joined by wife Kirilly and sat with a group of working mums, their children colouring in books and playing with cards around him. The mothers spoke candidly about the pressures of balancing family and work life amidst rising living costs.

At one point, local man Graeme West interrupted the chat, wishing Mr Dutton “good luck” and saying he didn’t seem to have a “woman problem” like his predecessor, Scott Morrison, since he was surrounded by a “gaggle” of women.

“It’ll be closer than people think,” Mr West said, to which Mr Dutton thanked him and gave him a thumbs up.

However, national polling released last week paints a different picture of how the Liberal leader’s image sits with female voters.

The Newspoll, published on April 22 as pre-polling opened, showed women and young voters were deserting the Coalition.

Female voters recorded the largest shift in sentiment since late March, swinging five points toward Labor on a two-party preferred basis.

When Mr Dutton took over the leadership of the Liberal Party, there was an acknowledged need to reset its relationship with women, particularly after the party’s handling of the Brittany Higgins case, which caused significant backlash.

On the hustings, Mr Dutton has frequently been asked how he plans to appeal to female voters — a key demographic that polling shows is shifting away from the Coalition.

Over weeks of campaigning, with stops at factories, housing estates and fuel stations, he has faced pointed questions about whether his policy agenda is resonating with women.

He has repeatedly argued that cost-of-living measures, such as cheaper power prices and first home buyer policies, are designed to help all Australians, including women and families.

Later in the day, Mr Dutton visited a young family in Robertson, where he met with father and registered nurse Joel McCoy, his four-year-old son Noah, and six-year-old daughter Chelsea.

The family shared their experience of the cost-of-living pressures, with Mr Dutton taking the time to share stories about his own children.

During the meeting, young Noah teased Mr Dutton about his lack of hair in a light-hearted moment which made the leader laugh.

They discussed sports and swimming lessons. Mr Dutton, a non-coffee drinker, switched from his usual tea to a hot chocolate for the occasion.

Mr Dutton’s afternoon included an announcement alongside domestic violence advocates, where he pledged $20 million to fund Australia’s first regional residential trauma recovery centre for domestic violence survivors. Interestingly, the same announcement was made earlier in the day by Mr Albanese during his visit to a domestic violence service in the region.

His trip north and down the NSW coast back to Sydney comes after a slow start for the leader, with media trailing him delayed when the bus meant to take them to the airport got stuck on a median strip on Pitt Street in central Sydney. It comes as Mr Dutton has set an ambitious plan to blitz 28 seats in the final week of the campaign ahead of the May 3 poll, a push to shore up support and win over key battlegrounds.