Dutton vows to support women in combat after dumped candidate goes on attack

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A Liberal candidate dumped by the party has forced Peter Dutton to declare his support for women serving in combat roles, after the political aspirant went on the attack and claimed Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie shared his view that fighting units should be male only.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said Hastie’s position was “untenable” unless he recanted his past view that close combat roles should be reserved for male soldiers, describing his resurfaced remarks as “a major concern”.

Dutton threw his support behind a trio of his candidates for marginal seats who have attracted damaging headlines as he seeks a rebound from the Coalition’s slip in the polls after the first week of the campaign.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton with the former Liberal candidate for Whitlam, Benjamin Britton, in January.Credit: Facebook

They include Bennelong aspirant Scott Yung, who failed to accurately declare fundraising and has been tied to a Chinese Communist Party-linked high roller, and Kooyong candidate Amelia Hamer, who has pitched herself as a renter trying to break into the housing market despite owning two properties.

Dutton’s support for the candidates contrasts with his backflip on working from home and decision to remove Benjamin Britton as a candidate earlier this week after the former soldier said women should not serve in combat roles. Both the policy and Britton’s remarks threatened to exacerbate the Coalition’s sliding popularity with female voters in recent polls.

Britton, who was canned from standing for the NSW south coast seat of Whitlam, claimed on Tuesday that he was the victim of a “witch-hunt” from moderate factional forces within the party and reiterated his claims about the army.

“My position is the same as Andrew Hastie, the shadow minister for defence and the great [former Liberal senator] Jim Molan that women should not serve specifically in combat roles, specifically in the army itself,” Britton, who is a veteran, told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

In 2018, Hastie, who is also a former elite soldier, said on Sky News that: “My personal view is that the fighting DNA of a close combat unit is best preserved when it is exclusively male … Now that’s not a popular view, we’ve changed it five years ago, but you’ve asked for my personal view [and] there it is.”

Dutton suggested that Britton was ousted for issues beyond his views on women in combat. “There were a number of issues, not just those made public in relation to the candidate, and we took a decision to replace the candidate,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday. News Corp reported that an online account that appeared linked to Britton had called a moderate Liberal senator, Andrew Bragg, a “piece of globalist shit” last year.

But the opposition leader brushed off concerns about three of his candidates in key marginal seats: Yung, Hamer and Bradfield candidate Gisele Kapterian, who was named in a $650,000 settlement former political staffer Rachelle Miller reached with the Commonwealth over discrimination and harassment claims.

No findings were made against Kapterian in the settlement or two other investigations into Miller’s claims.

“I think if you have a look at the candidates we’ve selected across many seats, [they are] unbelievable contributors to their local community, they’ve worked hard,” Dutton said, before criticising links between Labor figures and the scandal-plagued CFMEU.

“Am I going to take a moral lecture from Anthony Albanese when it comes to these matters? No, I’m not.”

Dutton also defended his migrant services spokesman Jason Wood after the frontbencher’s declared family business interests in a migration agency were publicised. “Members of parliament on either side have to make declarations according to the rules, and that’s what’s happened, and that’s perfectly legitimate,” Dutton said on Saturday.

Dutton stonewalled questions on Tuesday about his decision to abandon a push to stop public servants working from home, a day after conceding the policy was a mistake.

“We dealt with that issue yesterday,” Dutton said under sustained questioning.

Dutton was also forced to confirm he supported women serving throughout Australia’s defence forces. “I think you saw my record as defence minister in relation to women serving in any role they wanted to serve in the Australian Defence Force and that would be the position under any government I lead,” Dutton said.

“Andrew Hastie’s view is the same as mine.”

Marles called on Hastie to explain his stance, saying: “It is untenable to have a defence minister in Australia who feels that women should not be able to participate in combat roles.”

In a statement, a Liberal spokesperson acknowledged Hastie had previously shared the view that women should not serve in combat roles. Women have been permitted to serve in defence combat roles since January 2013 after the government decided they were capable of meeting its standards, dismissing fears about male soldiers being distracted or women lacking physical strength.

“Mr Hastie’s comments about combat roles in the Australian Defence Force were made more than seven years ago based on his own experience serving in the Special Air Service Regiment,” the spokesperson said.

“There is no intent to change personnel policy in the Australian Defence Force regarding combat roles.”

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