Rita Panahi: Peter Dutton is just the man to realign the Liberals

Peter Dutton is the Liberal MP the Labor party fears most, and in opposition he’ll be highly effective in keeping the government accountable.

Peter Dutton is the right leader at precisely the right time for the Liberal Party.

The former defence minister is capable, principled and the only Liberal frontbencher who Labor genuinely fears.

He is just the man to realign the opposition into a genuine centre right party with policies and values that speak to the Coalition’s new base among working class and aspirational voters.

Like Tony Abbott before him, Dutton will be maligned and misrepresented by the bulk of the media. Remember how they said Abbott was unelectable before he went on to win in a landslide in 2013? More on that later.

Dutton is more politically astute than Abbott and would have learnt from the former PM’s mistakes, including how not to handle the malcontent white-anters within the party. The only question is, who will serve as his deputy with a number of women considered frontrunners.

However, if the Liberal Party is truly going to realign as a centre-right option with centre-right values then it needs to forget about optics and identity politics and simply pick the most capable candidate, regardless of gender.

Peter Dutton is just the man to realign the opposition into a genuine centre-right party. Picture: Zak Simmonds

That should be a commonsense position but rationality has become almost taboo. Meritocracy is a fundamental Liberal value that has been largely forgotten in recent years.

Simply electing a woman to a prominent position will not alleviate the Liberals’ “women’s problem”. As it stands, Sussan Ley is considered the most likely to be deputy despite her consistent failure to lay a glove on Labor. Other contenders include senators Michaelia Cash, Anne Ruston and Jane Hume. If they are the best person for the job, then good luck to them, however another candidate should be considered given his strong performance and electoral appeal.

Andrew Hastie is young, accomplished and popular among Liberal voters. He’d make a fine deputy leader and his gender and race should not be a factor in determining his suitability for the role. Despite his considerable achievements as a minister in the most difficult and complex portfolios, Dutton’s image remains somewhat one dimensional thanks to the media and other factors beyond his control like his lack of hair and striking appearance.

Senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek was only mimicking media pundits when she likened Dutton to a scary fictional villain and advised him to smile more. “I think there will be a lot of children who have watched a lot of Harry Potter films who will be very frightened of what they are seeing on TV at night, that’s for sure,” Plibersek told 4BC Radio. “I am saying he looks a bit like Voldemort.”

You can imagine the howls of outrage if a Labor woman was told to smile more or had her physical appearance mocked. We are still hearing about that infantile menu used at a Liberal National party fundraiser in Brisbane some nine years ago that body-shamed Julia Gillard despite the many fulsome apologies.

And yet publications from the McGowan Daily, aka The West Australian, to Mamamia, the website for women who can’t think, have proudly labelled Dutton “Voldemort” or likened his appearance to a potato. Plibersek has sensibly apologised after being told that attacking a parliamentarian for his looks is not advisable, particularly given Labor’s unresolved “mean girls” issues.

Tanya Plibersek likened Dutton to Harry Potter character Lord Voldemort. Picture: Monique Harmer

For his part, Dutton took the latest snarky comments in his stride and refreshingly did not seek to play the victim. “I’m not the prettiest bloke on the block but I hope that I’m going to be pretty effective,” he said.

But it’s not just the Leftist media who have been fixated by Dutton’s looks rather than his achievements.

Former NSW premier Nick Greiner has in the past also commented on Dutton’s physical features concluding that though he is highly capable, his appearance makes him unsuitable. Thankfully Greiner is no longer federal Liberal Party president.

Dutton was the minister Labor feared most, and in opposition he’ll be highly effective in keeping the government accountable. Ignore the naysayers who know as much about centre right voters as I know about K-pop, which is precisely nothing. The same types who advise the Liberals to go further Left said the Coalition was unelectable under Abbott.

Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Hartcher said that under Abbott “the party faces electoral oblivion” while Crikey blowhards predicted “disaster of epic proportions” and Laura Tingle, who is now at the ABC, claimed “a reckoning awaits at polling day” and that the conservative voters Abbott sought to represent did not exist.

Another ABC type, David Marr, wrote in the Quarterly Essay in September 2012 that “Australia doesn’t want Tony Abbott. We never have.”

Just 12 months later Abbott won in an absolute landslide. The lesson for the Liberal Party is never take advice from those who dislike and deliberately misunderstand you.

Dutton will need to work hard to show Australia the man behind the austere persona. The warm, likeable and funny father of three who has excelled in every portfolio.

It is worth remembering that Dutton was the only Liberal MP with the courage to risk his position as home affairs minister and challenge the toxic Malcolm Turnbull.

He finally gets his chance to lead the party albeit in opposition.

For now.