Dutton to revamp his election-year frontbench as MPs head for exits

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will unveil a revamped frontbench as soon as this weekend in a shake-up that will replace two shadow ministers and promote a handful of younger MPs.

Shadow ministers James Paterson, Sussan Ley, Dan Tehan and former shadow minister Julian Leeser are the four candidates most likely to replace retiring foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham.

Peter Dutton is likely to announce a reshuffle before Christmas.Credit: Glenn Hunt

Paul Fletcher must be replaced as spokesperson for government services, arts and science as he is quitting politics before the next election.

Tehan is considered the frontrunner for foreign affairs as Dutton is likely to want to keep Paterson, a close ally, in the politically hot home affairs portfolio. As deputy leader, Ley could demand the foreign affairs portfolio but is said to prefer her domestic portfolios of industry, skills, training and small business.

Leeser was the spokesman for Indigenous Australians and legal affairs but resigned from the frontbench in 2023 to campaign for a Yes vote in the Voice to parliament referendum, for which he was an architect. While he is highly regarded, some in the opposition believe he has not yet served his penance for breaking with the party’s position on constitutional change.

Dutton is also expected to name replacements for shadow assistant ministers Hollie Hughes, Gavin Pearce and Nola Marino, who all leave parliament at this election.

Other candidates for promotion include spokeswoman for early childhood education Angie Bell, an outside chance to move into shadow cabinet, rising talents Andrew Bragg and Claire Chandler, and former diplomat Dave Sharma.

Both Birmingham and Fletcher are prominent members of the Liberals’ moderate faction and if Dutton does not replace them with moderates – such as Leeser – he will likely face internal criticism.

On Friday, former Nationals minister Keith Pitt announced he was leaving politics and fired off a scathing broadside at his party leader, David Littleproud, for backing the Coalition’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

Pitt, a conservative Queensland MP who was resources minister in the Morrison government, said he would step down from his safe Bundaberg-based seat of Hinkler at the next election after 11 years in parliament.

Pitt championed coal as resources minister and told The Australian that Littleproud should “stand up” to Dutton and the Liberals.

“And to do that, you’ve got to separate from your brothers and sisters in the Liberal Party because they have, on occasions, different views to us,” Pitt said. “In my view, political parties without purpose soon disappear.”

Former minister Keith Pitt has announced he is departing politics.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Pitt’s exit adds to the growing list of opposition MPs leaving parliament ahead of the 2025 election, which also includes former ministers Linda Reynolds and Karen Andrews, as well as Warren Entsch, Mark Coulton, Rowan Ramsey and David Gillespie.

The Nationals committed to a policy of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 under Barnaby Joyce’s leadership. In his official statement, Pitt wished Dutton, who plans to hit net zero in part by building a fleet of nuclear power plants, well.

Littleproud hit back in a statement, saying the Nationals had set the country’s agenda and protected regional Australia against Labor under his leadership.

Dutton said on Friday that Pitt was a friend and an “incredibly smart guy” who was frustrated to be kept on the Nationals backbench.

“He’s had a job offer in the private sector and he’s going to take that,” Dutton told Today.

Pitt was among the ministers kept in the dark about former prime minister Scott Morrison’s decision to have himself secretly sworn into their ministerial portfolios. Morrison took control of resources when he disagreed with Pitt about a proposal to drill for gas off the NSW coast.

Joyce said Pitt was right about the value of the junior Coalition partner standing up to the Liberals.

“If [the Nationals] are not getting something out of it, there’s no point,” Joyce said. But he defended Littleproud, who beat him in a vote after the last election to become party leader.

“I think David’s doing the best job he can,” Joyce told Sky. “I think David’s is going as hard as he can.”

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