‘Whingers’: Peter Dutton doubles down on Woolies boycott calls over Australia Day

Liberal leader Peter Dutton made a footwear admission as he was grilled on the Kyle and Jackie O program this morning.

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has doubled down on his call to boycott “woke” Woolworths over refusing to sell Australia Day thongs — despite admitting he won’t be wearing them.

Riffing on “whingers, woke CEOs and s**t stirrers”, Mr Dutton has accused the anti-Australia Day brigade of shaming families into not celebrating the holiday.

On Friday the opposition leader wheeled out his Australia Day water cooler idea again during an appearance on the Kyle and Jackie O program. He received an enthusiastic response from Sandilands who raged over “whingers” who complain about everything.

“Australia Day is exactly one week from today, January 26, and I know some folks don’t like that date, but that’s the date. It’s there, it’s been there for as long as I can recall. It’s one week away, all the anti-Australia Day types have been out,’’ Sandilands said.

“People want us to feel guilty. I don’t feel guilty. I don’t feel guilty at all about the day.”

Sandilands then revealed he had invited the Liberal leader to come on and explain his big idea — a boycott of Woolworths.

The debate over Australia Day continues. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“He’s come out and said, oh, he’s got the rag on with Woolworths and Big W because they’re not selling thongs and Australia Day hats and s**t like that,’’ Sandilands said.

“Like should we be boycotting Woolies? Woolies have always been there, all through the pandemic. Woolies were there, Coles were there. Working, working, working. Is it the right thing to do to boycott Woolies, or is this just what Woolies can do? They’re like, ‘oh hardly any bastards buying thongs...’

“Now, are you yourself buying a pair of these thongs? And you were like, ‘well, where are they? Where are these thongs? They’re not here to be seen in Woolworths’. Is that where you’re at?”

Mr Dutton conceded he would not be donning Australia Day thongs anytime soon.

“I’m not a big wearer of the Australia Day thongs, I’ll be open and honest with you,’’ the Liberal leader said

“But I just reckon people should be able to make their own decision – people want to celebrate Australia Day, they don’t want to celebrate Australia, that’s their decision.”

Mr Dutton then suggested as a result, he would be shopping at Coles,

“Yeah, Coles is proudly flying their flags and I think a lot of customers are going there, which is a good thing,’’ he said.

“Their business is not to tell us whether we believe in Australia Day or not. They don’t make the decision for us and I just think a lot of these big companies need to hear that message that we’re capable of making our own decisions.”

Kyle Sandilands in the KIIS studio.

Sandilands then suggested Australia “could change the date and people will still have a problem because there’s some people out there that always whinge about everything”.

Mr Dutton said Woolworths’ arguments didn’t stack up.

“Well Jackie, I think they started out with that argument, and then they abandoned it by saying ‘oh no, no, hang on, we’ve had discussions with our reconciliation committee’,’’ he said.

“It wasn’t anything to do with a decline in sales. I mean Chinese New Year is coming up, they’ll have stuff there for that. That’s fantastic. Diwali, they’ll celebrate Diwali and have those items for sale for people for the Indian community, and that’s fantastic, but just let people make their own choice.”

Mr Dutton said he accepted that white settlement had involved “difficulty in the past”.

“I accept that there are mistakes in our history, absolutely,’’ he said. “We’re very proud of our Indigenous culture, but there’s no country in the world that’s been settled without bloodshed and without difficulty in their past, but trying to shame Australians into being embarrassed about Australia Day – we live in the best country in the world, let’s celebrate it.”

Sandilands then asked Mr Dutton if he was avoiding Woolworths right now.

“So do you go to Woolies now? Like if your Mrs says, ‘Pete, we’ve got no milk. Run off down to Woolies’. Do you go, ‘oh s**t, I’ve got to go all the way to Coles now?’. Like, has this interfered with your own day-to-day?,’’ Sandilands asked.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton. Picture: Richard Dobson

“I’m happy to go to Coles. I mean, we shop at I guess whatever’s convenient normally. We try to shop at IGA because we’ve got a great IGA locally, and actually try and buy milk from a local farmers group in our area, because I just think they do a better deal for the farmers,’’ Mr Dutton said.

Producer Bruno then asked Mr Dutton: “Did you have an issue with the Prime Minister going to Kyle’s wedding? Because I think you were against that, weren’t you?

“Your Deputy Sussan Ley came out and slammed Albo, so I thought you’d all be on the same page with that.”

Mr Dutton said he didn’t have an issue with it.

“What a s**t stirrer. What are you trying to do here?” Sandilands said.