‘Our brand has suffered terribly’: Peter Dutton fails to explain Liberal party’s popularity decline

Peter Dutton was asked the same question six times during a brutal interview, as the Liberal party’s popularity in Victoria continues to slide.

A defeated Peter Dutton was left scrambling for words as he tried to justify why the Liberal party’s popularity in Victoria has gone “backwards” in light of Labor’s win at the Aston by-election.

In an interview with journalist David Speers, the Opposition leader was asked six times “why” his party only held two seats in all of metropolitan Melbourne to which he was unable to provide a solid answer.

Mr Dutton’s trainwreck of a response came after he was shown a map of a sea of red electorates representing the Labor Party which surrounded two blue Liberal seats, three Teal independent seats and one Greens division.

“You now hold only those two blue seats in all of metropolitan Melbourne, can you explain why?” Speers asked Mr Dutton during his appearance on Sunday’s episode of ABC Insiders.

A map of metropolitan Melbourne shows two Liberal seats in a sea of red. Picture: ABC Insiders

The question came after the Liberal Party’s “nightmare” loss at the Aston by-election which saw Labor candidate Mary Doyle secure a historic win against Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell.

Ms Doyle won the Liberal heartland thanks to a 6.4 per cent swing, defeating Ms Campbell by 6342 votes.

The by-election came after Liberal frontbencher Alan Tudge, who previously held the marginal seat, quit politics in February.

Mr Dutton first attempted to answer Speers’ question by acknowledging his party has been going “backwards“ since the late 1990s when former Australian prime minister John Howard led the party.

“If you go back to 2013 when we had a landslide victory, Victoria was still held by the Labor Party in terms of the majority number of seats,” he said.

“It’s been going backwards for us since 1996 before I got into the parliament. No Liberal leader before me has been able to rectify the situation in Victoria at a state level.”

David Speers had to repeat the question six times and still didn't receive an adequate response. Picture: ABC Insiders

In a second attempt to get an answer explaining why the Liberal Party’s popularity has declined in Victoria, Speers said: “you’re going backwards, I’m just asking why?”.

“Well this is what we need to assess, and we need to understand…” Mr Dutton responded before he was interrupted by Speers who suggested that perhaps the leader didn’t know the answer.

The former home affairs minister then went on a tangent about how the Liberal Party on a federal level was only “10 months into this period of opposition” and that no opposition had ever released all its policies midterm.

“I’m not suggesting that, I’m just asking if you have an understanding as to why you’ve gone backwards so far,” Speers questioned bluntly.

“Our brand has suffered terribly in Victoria,” Mr Dutton said, forcing Speers to raise the question “why” not once, but twice.

“Well people haven’t voted for us at a state level in the last 24 years, 21 of those years they’ve voted for Labor,” the Opposition leader replied.

In response, Speers asked: “Why is that, you must have some idea?”

“Well that’s what we need to assess. I think we need to do the analysis of Aston, have an understanding of what people were motivated by (and) what caused them to vote Labor for the first time,” Mr Dutton said.

Peter Dutton was asked why his party only held two seats in metropolitan Melbourne. Picture: ABC Insiders

Still failing to answer the question to Speers’ satisfaction, the journalist stated how it was a “serious problem” that Mr Dutton couldn’t identify how his party got into “such trouble” in Victoria.

In response, Dutton threw the Labor Party under the bus, stating its attempts to “throw mud” at him and Ms Campbell led to the party’s demise in Aston.

“Daniel Andrews is ruthless at a state level, he demonstrated that at the most recent election so there are issues in relation to policy, to personnel (and) issues in relation to our campaign techniques,” Mr Dutton said.

“So why is Labor better at campaigning? Your Liberal MPs will be troubled by what happened understandably, they’d be looking to see a leader say, ‘I know what’s going on,’” Speers replied.

“Well David I think there are obvious issues we need to address within the division of Victoria, that’s a statement of the obvious and that has been going on for a long time,” Mr Dutton said.

“I intend to do everything that I can from the federal level to be able to rectify that.”

Insiders host David Speers interviewed Peter Dutton following the Aston by-election. Picture: ABC Insiders

Liberal Party ‘a nasty, bigoted outfit’

As Mr Dutton tries to rebuild confidence in his party, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has no issue with rubbing salt into the Opposition’s wounds after unleashing a scathing attack on the Liberals.

“The Liberal Party is a nasty, bigoted outfit and people have worked them out. That might be why they keep losing,” he told reporters in light of Ms Doyle’s win.

“People want politicians who are not focused on the persecution of trans people, they want politicians who are focused on the cost of living, on skills, training and work.

“On working hard for working people, not people who are bitterly divided and take their narrow, nasty brand of politics and try and dress that up as a national agenda.”

Mr Andrews called the Liberal party a ‘nasty, bigoted outfit’. Picture: Valeriu Campan/NCA NewsWire

While Mr Dutton accepted responsibility for the historic loss, it wasn’t enough to satisfy Mr Andrews who later condemned the Opposition leader and called his commentary “extraordinary” following his appearance on ABC on Sunday morning.

“This notion that families in the suburbs are apparently up in arms about trans issues … the Liberal Party’s politics is all about the Liberal Party. Our politics is about you and your family,” Mr Andrews said.

When questioned about Mr Dutton’s personal brand, the Victorian Premier said he did not have an “accurate read” on the concerns people held for their communities.

“To sit there on Insiders this morning and say in his judgement, his finely tuned political judgement, families in the suburbs are out, about and are concerned and fundamentally motivated about transphobia … No. That’s not an accurate read and that tells you everything you need to know,” Mr Andrews said.

The Liberal Party’s decline in public confidence is evident right across the country as Labor state governments rule all jurisdictions across mainland Australia, in addition to a federal Labor government.

Mr Dutton stepped in as Opposition leader in May last year, following former prime minister Scott Morrison’s defeat to current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the federal election.