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In every single speech or interview Coalition leader Peter Dutton has given in the first two weeks of this year, he has played to racism.

Clearly, he seeks to imitate United States President-elect Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians who have won elections with racist campaigns targeting “illegal migrants” and non-white minorities.

Dutton is doing the same. But he is also stepping up attacks on hard-won, if minor, advances for First Nations peoples’ rights.

In a  in Ipswich, Queensland, Dutton demanded laws be reinstated to force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26, still officially deemed “Australia Day”.

Many reject this as deeply offensive to First Nations people, given it marks the beginning of British colonisation and attempted genocide of this continent’s original inhabitants. Many councils have moved their citizenship ceremonies to other days.

For several years, hundreds of thousands of people have joined Invasion Day or Survival Day marches on January 26, in solidarity with First Nations people.

This growing movement has powerful support from younger people and, more recently, strong support from the Palestine solidarity movement.

Responding to Dutton’s call, from the  said that last year, 81 local councils moved their annual citizenship ceremonies from January 26 “following meaningful feedback from Indigenous communities”.

She said those councils “recognised the growing call to reflect on a date that symbolises pain and loss for Aboriginal people and to embrace ceremonies that foster inclusiveness and unity”.

“Dutton’s stance is not only an affront to the democratic process, but also a futile attempt to hold back the tide of sensible and compassionate sentiment sweeping the nation.”

Mansell said Australians are “moving toward” a greater understanding about reconciliation and inclusivity, and that Dutton’s rigid ideology is “increasingly at odds with the values of the broader community”.

Gwenda Stanley, Gomeroi woman and Aboriginal Tent Embassy committee member, told the  on January 15 that it is an “insult” to Aboriginal people that citizenships can take place on the day of invasion, “a day of mourning for us”.

“As sovereign people of this country, we have every right to take back that day, because it’s not a day to celebrate genocide.”

Dutton announced last December he would not stand in front of at media conferences because “no other country does that” and it is “dividing” the country. He also implied that the Aboriginal flag should not be flown on public institutions, including the iconic , and has attacked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for not forcing Woolworths and pubs to do more to celebrate “Australia Day”.

 and right-wing commentators on  have amplified Dutton’s attempt to whip up his reactionary pitch to “anti-woke” racism.

While Dutton’s attacks on First Nations rights are front-ended by a culture war on what he says is “woke nonsense”, he has also called for measures that will have a more direct impact.

In his  to a Coalition campaign rally in the Naarm/Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley on January 12, Dutton promised that his government “will start with a full audit into spending on Indigenous programs”.

He wants to reintroduce the discriminatory cashless debit card for working-aged welfare recipients, hold a royal commission into sexual abuse in Indigenous communities and “bolster law and order in crime-heavy communities”.

Just as the Queensland Liberal National Party’s winning election campaign relied on hysteria to whip up fear over “youth crime”, Dutton is doing the same at a federal level, along with racialising the issue.

Dutton said that “keeping Australians safe” would be a priority of his government, and that “the Albanese Labor government has failed in this duty”.

“More than 280 hardcore criminals — including murderers and sex offenders — were released from immigration detention into the community by the government … Negligently, the government granted tourist visas to 3,000 people from a terrorist-controlled war zone without conducting thorough checks.

“People smugglers were again given the green-light when Labor dismantled Operation Sovereign Borders … We stopped the boats before — and will do so again.

“I cancelled more than 6300 visas of dangerous non-citizen criminals — and we will not hesitate to cancel visas again too. If you’re a guest in our country inciting or committing violence, you will be kicked out.”

Dutton’s racist election campaign is not just a culture war; it is having a real impact on society by bolstering the already toxic levels of institutional racism, which generates worsening incarceration rates, Black deaths in custody, youth suicides and mass removal of First Nations children from their families.

While Dutton demands tough action against antisemitism, he is also whipping up Islamophobia, which  show is a much greater problem.

It is no exaggeration to say that whether Dutton wins or loses, his racist campaign is already harming people.

[Peter Boyle is a member of the .]