Dutton pulls out of fundraisers a day after leaving Queensland for billionaire’s event

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pulled out of two Liberal Party events in Melbourne, a day after it was reported he left Queensland for a lavish fundraiser in Sydney as Cyclone Alfred approached his hometown of Brisbane.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged $1 million in recovery grants to every local council affected by Cyclone Alfred on Thursday, but stayed above the fray as his ministers lashed Dutton’s decision.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is under fire from Labor ministers for attending a party fundraiser in Sydney.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The Australian Financial Review revealed on Wednesday that Dutton had attended a party fundraiser hosted by billionaire pub-and-club boss Justin Hemmes on Tuesday, triggering criticism from senior Labor ministers who questioned Dutton’s judgment.

As the category 2 storm, which is due to make landfall either late Friday or early Saturday morning, approaches the coast, the chances of an election being called this weekend to be held on April 12 are receding, according to Labor strategists.

Dutton had been due to attend two events in Melbourne, a Liberal business network evening fundraiser on Wednesday and then a lunch with members of the Pharmacy Guild and other businesses from the health sector on Thursday.

The Wednesday evening event was to be held between 5pm and 7pm and offered a “briefing with the Hon Peter Dutton MP” for the “Australian Business Network”, which is a Liberal Party fundraising vehicle.

Labor charges up to $5000 per person for such events and up to $18,000 for a table of 10, and the federal opposition would probably charge similar amounts.

But at 1pm on Tuesday – before the Hemmes fundraiser took place – a staff member from the Liberal Party wrote to attendees that the Wednesday event had been cancelled “due to unforeseen circumstances”.

But guests were offered the opportunity in the email to book for the re-scheduled event on Tuesday next week.

Dutton also pulled out of the Thursday lunchtime fundraiser in Melbourne before his attendance at Hemmes’ $100 million Vaucluse mansion was publicly reported.

Justin Hemmes’ $100 million family home in Sydney’s Vaucluse was the location for a Liberal fundraiser.Credit: Dallas Kilponen

Contacted on Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for Dutton said only that “he is in Brisbane” and declined to say why he had decided not to attend the Liberal Party fundraisers.

Queensland Labor had two fundraisers scheduled for this week, but they were cancelled on Monday, a Labor staffer confirmed.

The AFR reported on Thursday that Dutton also attended a lunch in Sydney, before the Hemmes fundraiser, at the residence of a Greek Orthodox bishop, with the event organised by Fouad Deiri, a property developer who is chairman of the DeiGroup.

A spokesman for Dutton said “the event you refer to was not a fundraising event, it was a luncheon meeting with Antiochian Archdiocese Church representatives and no other political donors were present”.

Dutton gave a press conference on Tuesday morning at Queensland’s Emergency Management Centre in Brisbane but Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the opposition leader left a briefing on the cyclone’s progress at the centre early. Dutton then flew to Sydney for a community event and a fundraiser at Hemmes’ waterfront home, Hermitage.

Chalmers said reports of Dutton’s decision to leave Queensland were “very disappointing”.

“That’s for Peter Dutton to explain. I went to that briefing on Tuesday at [the emergency management centre in] Kedron and he was leaving as I was arriving,” Chalmers said on Queensland radio station 4BC on Thursday morning.

“But I assure all your listeners and I assure you that our focus has been on the disaster. I hope his has been as well, because we all need all shoulders to the wheel. Every level of government, both sides of politics, need to be doing what we can.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a press conference in the National Situation Room in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Dutton’s office confirmed that he had attended the fundraiser and said he had gone to previous briefings on the cyclone.

The opposition leader’s electorate of Dickson, on the north-western fringe of Brisbane, is forecast to be in Cyclone Alfred’s path. Chalmers’ electorate of Rankin is also in the cyclone’s path. The treasurer was in Canberra on Monday for a cabinet meeting and flew to Brisbane that night.

In an interview with 4BC, on Wednesday morning, Dutton said he had not fully prepared his home for the cyclone but would be helping relatives in the area that day. “I haven’t taped up the windows, I haven’t been that organised, but it’s something we should consider, actually,” Dutton said.

“I’ve got an elderly aunt who lives not too far away from us, so going to do some sandbagging at her place later on today.”

Credit: Matt Golding

Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt slammed Dutton’s decision to fly to Sydney. “It’s surprising that when Peter Dutton’s own community was filling sandbags, he was filling Liberal Party money bags at a Sydney harbourside mansion,” Watt said. “Mr Dutton owes Queenslanders an explanation.”

Community independent candidate in Dutton’s seat of Dickson, Ellie Smith, said the opposition leader had “ditched the people of Dickson ... to fly to a harbourside fundraising event in Sydney”.

“We’re facing a one-in-50-year flood and cyclone disaster here in Dickson, yet Mr Dutton’s eyes are on donors and dollars in Sydney and Melbourne. His feet should be on the ground here in Dickson.”

Speaking from Canberra’s situation room, where Albanese said he would be based for a number of days, the prime minister pledged Commonwealth support to Queensland and NSW while dismissing his interest in election timing.

“At the worst of times, we always see the best of Australian character. I said yesterday that there were no political parties in this process and there are no borders – tropical Cyclone Alfred certainly does not recognise any borders, and nor should the government’s response,” Albanese said.

“This isn’t a time ... for party politics.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.