Who voted for Peter Dutton to replace Malcolm Turnbull as leader?
PETER Dutton has admitted he is working the phones to convince more of his colleagues to support his bid to become prime minister. “You don’t go into a ballot believing you’re going to lose,” he said this morning.
NSW
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PETER Dutton has admitted he is working the phones to convince more of his colleagues to support his bid to become prime minister.
“I am not going to beat around the bush with that, I’m happy to say yes I am talking to colleagues, colleagues are talking to me,” he told Melbourne’s 3AW radio today.
“You don’t go into a ballot believing you’re going to lose and if I believe that a majority of colleagues support me, then I would consider my position.”
“I believe I have ideas and a vision for Australia. I believe I have the experience to beat Bill Shorten.”
Mr Dutton spent the morning outlining some of his policy ideas including cutting the 10 per cent GST on electricity bills for families and pensioners.
He also flagged a royal commission on fuel and energy companies because he thinks consumers pay too much.
MORE: Reshuffle looms for Malcolm Turnbull after ministers revolt
Senator Eric Abetz, who voted to support Mr Dutton yesterday, backed the idea of a Royal Commission.
Nationals MPs Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt criticised their colleague Darren Chester’s threat to head to the crossbench if Mr Dutton toppled Mr Turnbull saying it was entirely a matter for the Liberal Party.
MORE MINISTERS OFFER TO RESIGN
Two more ministers offered to resign after supporting Mr Dutton in yesterday’s ballot — Alan Tudge and Greg Hunt — but the prime minister has not yet accepted.
It brings the total in the ministry who have offered to resign to 10. Only Mr Dutton and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’ resignations have been accepted.
MORE: Why Dutton challenged the PM
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, who backed Mr Turnbull, said he hoped the eight would stay on in the ministry.
“I always have the practice of being open about what I do in ballots. And I think it is to the credit of those colleagues that they have also been open,” he said.
“They have offered their resignations. But whether those are proceeded with is really a matter between those individuals and the prime minister, but I certainly hope that they can continue to make a contribution.”
The Daily Telegraph revealed today that Mr Dutton will use his move to the backbench to build his personal brand, team and a policy manifesto in the belief he is the Coalition’s best chance to win the next federal election.
Promising to be a vocal backbencher after resigning as Home Affairs Minister following his narrow loss in yesterday’s leadership spill, Mr Dutton said he would “contribute to public debates” on policy areas including migration, energy, health and education.
The Member for the Queensland seat of Dickson pledged there would be “no wrecking or sniping”.
WHAT DUTTON SAID
“I formed the judgment that I was the best person to leader the Liberal Party to the next election,” he said yesterday.
“The party room has made its decision. I honour and respect that decision.”
Mr Dutton was first given a spot on the Coalition’s frontbench by former prime minister John Howard in 2004 and has served in the ministry.
He yesterday listed Mr Howard and former treasurer Peter Costello as mentors to this day.
Mr Dutton said for now his job would include advocating for “policies of my own that I think would be of benefit to the government”.
“I want to contribute to public debates. I think I can do a lot for my marginal seat colleagues.”
While refusing to lay out his “policy manifesto” publicly yesterday, he said the government needed to focus on issues that were important to voters, including reducing migration and cutting power prices.
“I know that there are other things that we (the government) can be doing. Perhaps I can talk about that in time. I’m not going to go through policy by policy today,” he told Sky News.
“It’s clear that the Australian public, particularly in capital cities in Victoria, in NSW, in Queensland have a view that the migration number is too high.
“People sitting in congested traffic each day when they go to work or go to pick the kids up … and people are worried about housing affordability in some parts of the country.”
MORE
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian ‘deeply disappointed’ with spill
Abbott declares ‘loyalty must be earned’
ANALYSIS: Turnbull believed Dutton didn’t want his job. He was wrong
Mr Dutton refused to give his tick of approval to the latest version of Malcolm Turnbull’s energy policy, which triggered the backbench unrest and said that trouble explaining it to the public had been a downfall.
“If it’s going to say to the butcher in my electorate at Brendale that you’re paying $5200 a month for your cold rooms to stay cold and keep the lights on … that power bill is coming down and we can provide you with that guarantee then I support it 100 per cent,” he said.
Clearly taking a swipe at the persistent criticism of Mr Turnbull that he waffles, Mr Dutton said the government must make sure its message was “succinct”.
The 47-year-old, who has been the face of the government’s border security policy, said he would also use his time on the backbench to show the public he has a personality.
“I have a self-deprecating sense of humour and like a drink like anyone else,” he said.
“When you’re stuck in front of a camera talking about the serious issues of national security and border protection, it’s pretty hard to crack a smile.
“In this portfolio (Home Affairs), because of the threat level, people don’t get to see your family, because you try to guard your family from the public eye, so people don’t see you in a natural environment.
“I think the opportunity for me as a backbencher now is to talk to people. It is an opportunity for me to talk about the other side of me the public might not know.”
In his first speech to federal Parliament 16 years ago, Mr Dutton paid tribute to his parents.
“Their outstanding quality is their tenacity,” he said in February 2002.
SHARRI MARKSON ON THE CHALLENGE:
Mr Dutton has also said that as a Queensland police officer for almost a decade in the 1990s he saw the “best and the worst that society has to offer”. Mr Dutton has not been afraid to show his emotions in the past, tearing up recently in a radio interview and in Parliament when Labor MP Anne Aly described the racism she experienced.
Signing off a Sky News interview yesterday, Mr Dutton said: “Now I can relax a little bit which is good.”
But as frontbenchers continue to put forward their resignation it appears he won’t be putting his feet up for long.
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