Peter Dutton blasts ‘damage’ from Moira Deeming saga and airs caution on Aston

Peter Dutton has hit out at the Victorian Liberal Party and the ‘damage’ caused by the Moira Deeming saga, warning the Aston by-election on Saturday will be ‘tight’.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in question time on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Peter Dutton has hit out at the Victorian Liberal Party and the “damage” caused by the Moira Deeming saga, warning the Aston by-election on Saturday will be “tight”.

Addressing the Coalition party­room on Tuesday, the federal Opposition Leader said while cost-of-living pressures were starting to bite in Aston and voters were talking about the Albanese government’s “mistakes and broken promises”, its honeymoon period was not over yet.

“We can see in Victoria at the moment the damage that can be caused and the opportunities lost when we don’t act as a team and when we talk about ourselves,” Mr Dutton said, according to a Coalition spokeswoman.

“In Aston, it is all hands on deck … It’s going to be tight.”

Anthony Albanese told his colleagues at a Labor caucus meeting the average by-election swing against the government of the day was 5-6 per cent and “anything less than that is a bad result for Peter Dutton”.

The Prime Minister accused Mr Dutton of being in hiding during the NSW election, the Aston by-election and in question time, “hoping that the people of Aston don’t realise that he is the Leader of the Opposition”. Shortly after, Mr Dutton asked his first question of the week in question time, about rising energy costs.

Following NSW Labor’s victory on the weekend, Mr Dutton said it was important not to conflate state and federal results, ­insisting the issues were different.

Victorian Liberal MP Ms Deeming has been suspended from the party for nine months and could still be expelled after she was embroiled in controversy for attending a rally against Premier Daniel Andrews’s gender identity reforms that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.