Peter Dutton fends off Labor push to retain seat

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has held onto his Queensland seat of Dickson after fending off a push from Labor’s Ali France, and could step into the role of the next Liberal leader.

Addressing his supporters, Dutton paid tribute to colleagues who were in danger of losing their seats, including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, calling it a “terrible day” for the Liberal Party.

Peter Dutton conceded early ground to Labor’s Ali France in Dickson.Credit: Getty Images

“I want to acknowledge the pain they’re going through tonight, their families, their supporters and our supporters across the country,” Dutton said late on Saturday night.

“So tonight is an opportunity now just to enjoy each other’s company, for many of you, relax and have a drink, because for a lot of people here, you’ve been up right through last night and coming up to 24 hours. It is time for a bit of a break.”

The senior cabinet member, who referenced the interception of an asylum seeker boat in a last ditch re-election pitch, narrowly fought off France who ran for Labor for the second time.

Labor’s Chris Bowen, a panellist on Channel Seven’s election coverage, earlier told the network early projections would show Dutton being voted out after more than two decades in public office.

“Early days, and not calling it yet,” Bowen said on Saturday night. “We saw ourselves as the underdog but competitive. Early figures are perhaps better than we hoped.”

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud said United Australia Party preferences would have helped Labor.

But by late in the evening Dutton’s fortunes had turned with the Australian Electoral Commission’s two-candidate-preferred projection shows Dutton keeping his seat with almost 53 per cent of the vote.

Asked if Dutton would be the next opposition leader, Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said, “I think we have a long way to go tonight. It is all over the place at the moment. At this point in time, let’s just concentrate on the result tonight”.

Dutton is expected to contest the party leadership after Scott Morrison announced he was stepping down.

Dickson, on the north-western edge of Brisbane, was a marginal seat held by Dutton at 4.6 per cent following the 2019 election.

Dutton has been the government’s loudest voice on national security during the election campaign, most notably urging Australians during an Anzac Day television interview to prepare for war due to global and regional insecurity.

Those comments drew the ire of popular West Australian premier Mark McGowan, who criticised Dutton’s rhetoric as frightening and “grossly irresponsible”.

Labor’s foreign policy spokeswoman Penny Wong also accused Dutton of playing politics with national security after he held a press conference to reveal Australia had been tracking a Chinese spy ship off the coast of Western Australia for about a week.

He labelled the ship’s movements “an aggressive act” by China, despite the Department of Defence leaning away from such language.

The Liberal Party on Saturday seized on the interception of a Sri Lankan asylum seeker boat trying to reach Australia, texting voters in marginal seats that they needed to vote for the party to keep the nation’s borders secure.

Dutton posted on social media: “People smugglers have obviously decided who is going to win the election and the boats have already started. Don’t risk our national security with Labor.”

Dutton launched defamation proceedings in April last year against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi over a six-word tweet accusing him of being a “rape apologist”.

Days before the election, an appeal court overturned a decision awarding Dutton $35,000 in damages over a tweet, after the author successfully argued the post did not convey the defamatory meaning Dutton had claimed.

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