Peter Dutton’s wild Donald Trump defence
Peter Dutton has brushed off claims he’s “right up Donald Trump’s arse” in a 60 Minutes interview, pointing to one huge problem.
Peter Dutton has brushed off claims he’s “right up Donald Trump’s arse” in a wild 60 Minutes family interview in which he revealed he got smashed on Red Bull and vodka on his first date with his wife.
The Liberal leader and his wife Kirilly have opened up about how their enduring love story began at a Brisbane pub, why she embraced the baby daughter he had with an ex-lover, and why he won’t be getting a “glow up” hair transplant in Thailand anytime soon.
As both political leaders flick the pre-election switch to personal, the Liberal leader, his wife and three children have conducted their first ever joint television interview, with his wife on 60 Minutes with Karl Stefanovic.
But the Duttons were quick to warn that unlike Scott Morrison, who was mocked for pulling out a ukulele on the same program, there would be no musical instruments or ballroom dancing.
“Does he play the ukulele?’’ Stefanovic asked.
“No, thank God,’’ Mrs Dutton laughed.
“We’re not doing that, are we?’’ she said. “Can’t sing, can’t dance, can’t play ukulele.”
And voters can forget about the Albo “glow-up” that involved him losing weight and getting new glasses before the last election.
“Do you know what a glow-up is, darling?’’ Mrs Dutton laughed.
“Yeah I, well, I just think if I turned up with a full head of hair tomorrow after a trip to Thailand, or Turkey, or somewhere, that people would probably notice,” Mr Dutton quipped.
Peter Dutton’s big night out on the Red Bull and vodkas
In the interview, Mr Dutton joked that he drank “20 Red Bulls” on the night the couple met for their first date.
Outlining their unconventional love story, Mr Dutton conceded he met his wife during a tumultuous time in his personal life when he was divorced and an expectant dad with an on-again off-again girlfriend.
It was around that time he was set up on a date with Kirilly at the Port Office Hotel in Brisbane.
Asked what she remembered of him, Mrs Dutton quipped, “with a vodka Red Bull in hand coming towards me.”
“It was a few years ago,’’ Mr Dutton noted. “Blast from the past.”
“I’d had 20 vodka Red Bulls by that stage, so it was all good,’’ he joked.
Mr Dutton said it was his wife’s calm and stoic nature that attracted him from the start.
“So, completely, um, composed and, and nothing rattles her. And, and is, is just stoic and supportive. And, uh, and that’s always been a bedrock. And, um, and that’s never changed from day one,’’ she said.
When they met he had already been married and divorced, and was expecting a child, his daughter Rebecca, with an ex-girlfriend.
“No. I mean, we didn’t meet as, you know, school sweethearts or anything like that. Uh, I got married young, uh, when I was about 23 and that marriage lasted about six months,’’ Mr Dutton said.
“Bec was born in 2002.”
At the time he had recently entered parliament.
“Rebecca’s mother and I had been sort of on-off-on and off again relationship, would be the polite way to describe it, but you know, she’s been an amazing mother and, uh, and I’d like to think that I’ve been an amazing father to, to Rebecca as well, in the way that Bec’s turned out,’’ Mr Dutton said.
The couple’s sons, Harry and Tom, were born a few years after Mr Dutton and his wife married.
She revealed she didn’t “really like that word ‘stepmum’” and thought of Rebecca as the boys’ sister and their child.
“It was, it was just done and, and from the day that she was born, she was part of our family,’’ she said.
“She’s our child. She’s the boys’ sister. Um, I don’t, I don’t think of our relationship in those
terms.”
Why Mr Dutton’s own kids call him Mr Potatohead
Mr Dutton’s kids revealed that they like to torment him at home by calling him Mr Potato Head, keeping him level-headed, but also praised him as a good person.
“I really hope you can see him as another person if he does become Prime Minister,’’ his daughter Rebecca Dutton said.
“I think for his campaign, he can’t appear as a teddy bear, because that won’t do him much good. But I want everyone to know that he really is,’’ his son Harry Dutton said.
Peter Dutton, who grew up in outer Brisbane, the son of a bricklayer and eldest of five kids, also opened up on how his work at a butcher shop and as a police officer shaped his world view.
“For me as, like, a pretty shy kid, actually, uh, it, it sort of brought out the ability to speak to people across the counter and you know was a sort of fun environment to work in,’’ Mr Dutton said.
He has previously suggested that his nine years as a cop where he was exposed to some of the worst crimes imaginable on the drug and sex offender’s squads had probably given him a form of PTSD.
“I think you’re only human and therefore you carry with you those memories and those, uh, conversations, those, sort of, you know, horrible facts and scenes.,’’ he said.
“I can think about some of those victims, particularly, you know, women and, uh, and, and children.
“And I do think it influences the way that you bring up your own children, uh, the way that
you assess, uh, a scene when you go into a restaurant or into public.
“And I, I mean, there’s also an amazing side to that career, where you have a great deal of satisfaction by providing support, uh, helping somebody in their darkest hour. And there is a job satisfaction that goes with that.”
Peter Dutton denies he’s ‘right up Donald Trump’s arse’
During one of the wilder moments in the interview host Karl Stefanovic suggested he was taking his cues from the US President, a charge Mr Dutton rejected as a Labor narrative.
“From what Australians have seen thus far they’d be forgiven for thinking that you are right up Donald Trump’s arse,’’ Mr Stefanvoic said.
“Where will you go up against Donald Trump then?”
Mr Dutton replied that the obvious issue was tariffs that the US had threatened to impose on Australia.
“I think they’re damaging the relationship if they stay in place and not in our interest and not in the United States’ interests,’’ he said.
Death threats, security and the dark side of politics
Mrs Dutton also explained an interview with The Courier Mail a few years ago.
“What people were doing and saying, it was impacting our life in a way that it never had before,’’ she said, adding that the family childcare businesses became a target for nasty, relentless online abuse.
“When people are writing things online and saying things and, and posting images, about him that are physically hurtful, very, very graphic, that are being sent to my staff. So it’s gone beyond Peter and I, beyond our family, um, to beautiful young women who work for me,’’ she said.
“That was, that was the turning point. And when my children are having to have security details at school and, and at sporting games because of threats that had been made.
“And the worst part, the absolute worst part of this job is that your, your family, your wife, your children, your friends, uh, your cousins with the same surname, are all sucked into that vortex, that you’ve created,’’ Mr Dutton added.
Why Peter Dutton is not a cookie cutter politician
The Liberal leader who was previously married and divorced and had a daughter Rebecca with an ex-girlfriend in his twenties, conceded he was not a “cookie cutter politician”.
“What is the real Peter Dutton like?,’’ Stefanvoic asked.
“Very relaxed. Very gentle and, and empathetic,’’ Kirilly Dutton said.
“He’s a great mate, he’s a good son, and he’s an excellent dad.”
What the Duttons will do if the lose
Asked what he will do if he loses the election, Mr Dutton was philosophical.
“Uh, I think you wake up on the Monday and you brush yourself off. The kids are
healthy, and, uh, and you get on with life,’’ Mr Dutton said.
“And you can’t live with regrets, and you move on gracefully whether you win or
lose.”
“What do they say? Better to die on your feet than live on your knees,’’ Mrs Dutton added.
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