Dutton: I’m not Australia’s answer to Trump

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has rejected claims he is Australia’s answer to US President Donald Trump, declining to weigh into the vexed gender debate as he pitches himself as a leader who would govern in the style of John Howard.

Asked by 60 Minutes presenter Karl Stefanovic if he was “up Trump’s arse”, Dutton, who has led a series of debates on cultural attitudes, laughed off the assertion and noted he had criticised Trump’s tariffs.

Kirilly and Peter Dutton in Sunday night’s 60 Minutes program.Credit: Nine

“Well, that might be a Labor line but it’s just not true,” he said in the program to air on this masthead’s stablemate Channel Nine on Sunday.

“I don’t believe I am. I grew up under John Howard’s wing. I worked closely with Peter Costello as assistant treasurer, so I think that’s more my role model than others around the world.”

With speculation on election timing nearing fever pitch, Dutton and Albanese have been using traditional and social media to show off their families and create a positive impression in voters’ minds. This masthead’s Resolve Political Monitor shows the Coalition ahead 51-49, with neither party on track to win a majority of seats.

Albanese released a Valentine’s Day video on Friday in which he and fiancee Jodie Haydon read out prompts written on cards, including one that asked who said “I love you” first and another questioning which one of them was messier.

“On behalf of Jodie and I, happy Valentine’s Day, Australia… One year since we got engaged.”

Dutton sat down with weekend News Corp tabloids for a family profile and conducted a long interview with Sky News’ Sunday Agenda, also owned by News Corp, in which he flagged intervention in the insurance sector.

“As we’ve done with the supermarkets, where we have threatened divestment if consumers are being ripped off, similarly in the insurance market, we will intervene to make sure consumers get a fair go.”

In the same Sky interview, Dutton avoided weighing into the gender debate weeks after Trump passed an executive order recognising just two genders. Dutton said there were two sexes and some intersex people but he was less clear on his stance on gender fluidity, mirroring his decision to last year shun a conservative-led abortion debate.

“If you’re talking about genders, well, people have a different association, there’s a different recognition that people have and that is an issue for them. Again, I’m in the [John] Howard mould of not being interested in what’s happening in people’s bedrooms,” Dutton said.

Last week, Trump signalled the start of a global trade war, saying he would introduce “reciprocal” tariffs on “friend and foe”.

Dutton said Trump’s business background and his plans to challenge established policies and positions meant nations had to adopt a new mindset to deal with the US.

In the 60 Minutes program, Kirilly Dutton appeared in her first TV interview alongside her 54-year-old husband and three children.

Kirilly, who has run childcare centres, appeared confident and outgoing on the program, raising the prospect of a more prominent role in the election campaign of her husband, whom she described as a shy person. Dutton joked that he met Kirilly at a Brisbane pub after drinking “20 vodka Red Bulls”.

Much of the conversation with Dutton’s family centred on the public perception of the Coalition leader as a hardman lacking in empathy, which Kirilly said had contributed to threats to her staff.

“The jobs that he’s done in government have been really tough jobs and he’s done them really well. But that gives you a particular persona. What do you do – go on a game show?” she said.

“What people were doing and saying was impacting our life in a way it never had before. When people are writing things online, and saying things, 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.”

“That was the turning point. And when my children are having to have security details at school and at sporting games because of threats.”

Dutton’s daughter Rebecca said: “I really hope you can see him as another person if he does become prime minister.”

This view of Dutton’s persona was echoed by one of his sons, who added: “I think for his campaign he can’t appear as a teddy bear because that won’t do him much good. But I’d like everyone to know that he really is.”

The opposition leader explained that he had never considered an image “glow-up” similar to the one undergone by Anthony Albanese when he changed his glasses before the last election.

Dutton expressed optimism about winning the support of crossbenchers if he was within striking distance of the 76 seats required to form government.

“If you speak to Bob Katter, if you speak to Allegra Spender, if you speak with Dai Le, if you speak with one or two of the others, there’s at least a conversation to be had,” he said.

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