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Malcolm Turnbull On Why He Thinks Peter Dutton Is A ‘Thug’

There’s an estimated 3.5 billion people heading to the polls this year around the world, making it the biggest election year on record.

On Friday, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer became the new British P-M, the UK overwhelmingly voting Labour after 14 years of Conservative rule.

But while the Brits have gone left, their neighbours are lurching the other way.

France is today heading to the polls, with Emmanual Macron’s position shaky, after the first round of voting showed surging support for the far-right National Rally.

But not every nation is angry at the status quo. India’s 969 million voters recently secured a rare third term for Narendra Modi.

And America is on track to… uh… well, no one really knows what the hell is going on there.

But before you get too comfortable watching the rest of the world consumed in the chaos of election season, the next cab off the referendum rank might be Australia!

Fresh rumours point to an election for Saturday, August 31, with the PM reportedly eager to want voting done and dusted ahead of a predicted interest rate rise in September.

But with cost-of-living pressures already high, turmoil over the departure of Senator Fatima Payman, snap elections not going well for incumbents, and global trends all over the place, is an imminent dash to the polls the right move?

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told The Project that he does not believe Anthony Albanese will call for an election this year.

“It will be hard to have an election between now and the end of the year with state elections like Queensland, redistributions think it will be between March and May next year,” he said.

As for the type of Prime Minister he thinks Peter Dutton would, Turnbull said “he is a thug”.

“Peter has one tune he plays. All his political life. That is division and animosity, generally targeted at immigrants,” Turnbull said.

“I couldn't think of anyone less suited to be Prime Minister of a multicultural society like Australia.

“You know, I mean, there's no point pulling my punches, it is an important question. I gave you an honest answer.”