A Brief History Of Peter Dutton In Politics
Never forget when he joked that Pacific nations would have "water lapping at their door" due to climate change.
Former Defence Minister Peter Dutton has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal party after running unopposed. He will replace former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and former environment minister Sussan Ley will serve as deputy leader.
Following his election loss last week Morrison announced he would step down as Liberal leader. The only other real challenger to Dutton taking over was also wiped out: Josh Frydenberg lost his seat in Kooyong to teal independent Monique Ryan.
But who exactly is Peter Dutton, and how has he made his name in politics thus far?
Who Is Peter Dutton?
Dutton, 51, previously served as Minister for Defence and Leader of the House in the Morrison Government between March 2021 and, well, right now. He has held the seat of Dickson since 2001 and has been a member of Cabinet since 2013. In that time, he has held the positions of Minister for Health, Minister for Sport, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Minister for Home Affairs.
In 2018, Dutton unsuccessfully challenged then PM Malcolm Turnbull for the top job in a lib spill that ultimately resulted in Scott Morrison becoming PM. And, earlier this year, there were rumours that Dutton would again try to win the top job but the predicted leadership spill never eventuated.
Prior to entering politics, Dutton worked as a cop for the Queensland police for nearly a decade.
Dutton is no stranger to a good ol’ political controversy, with there being too many throughout his political career for us to name them all in this article. Instead, we’ll just focus on some of the biggest moments.
The Murugappan Family
Peter Dutton has a long and unpleasant relationship with the Murugappan family, whom he once had the power to grant visas but repeatedly refused to do so. At one point, he referred to their two children — both born in Australia — as “anchor babies”. Not to mention, he repeatedly rejected their refugee status claims.
“It’s been a frustrating case because every court, every tribunal, every decision-maker has been very clear to this family that they are not refugees,” Dutton said last year. “This family has not ever been found to be owed protection.”
Dutton also claimed that the family were rorting the system.
“I wish her every good health and a speedy return back to Sri Lanka,” he told 2GB radio in 2021. “But this is a situation that is of their own making, it is ridiculous, it is unfair on their children, and it sends a very bad message to other people who think they can rort the system as well.”
Dutton Sued A Refugee Advocate
During election week, refugee advocate Shane Bazzi won his appeal in a defamation case launched by Peter Dutton over a six-word tweet labelling him a “rape apologist” after Dutton asserted that pregnant rape victims were “trying it on” to get to Australia.
In addition to the obvious ethical issue of politicians suing voters for defamation, it’s important to remember that while this case was going on, Peter Dutton actually called for a taxpayer-funded legal fund for politicians to cover the costs of defamation lawsuits against members of the public.
Apology To The Stolen Generation
In 2008, Peter Dutton was one of just a handful of MPs to boycott Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generation. Not only did he not attend the monumental moment in history, but he also doubled down on his decision not to attend two years later, telling Q&A in 2010 that he didn’t regret his decision.
“I regarded it as something which was not going to deliver tangible outcomes to kids who are being raped and tortured in communities in the 21st century,” he said at the time. “Now, if I thought for a moment that it was going to deliver positive outcomes to those kids, to their families, to those communities, then I would support it in a heartbeat. But I thought it distracted us from that.”
He later changed his tack — albeit only slightly — to clarify that he just “didn’t appreciate the symbolism of it, and the importance to Indigenous people”.
After being elected as Liberal leader, Dutton did issue an apology for the “mistake.”
“Largely that was because of my own background and experience … I worked in Townsville, I remember going to many domestic violence instances particularly in Indigenous communities,” he said.
“At the time I believed the apology should be given when the problems were resolved and the problems weren’t resolved.”
Climate Change Is A Joke
In 2015, while Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton made a joke about rising sea levels in a conversation with Prime Minister Tony Abbott and then-Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.
Specifically, he said that “time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to have water lapping at your door,” in a joke about rising sea levels that was not meant to be picked up by a microphone hanging overhead.
Instead of apologising for it, Dutton argued that it was a private conversation.
Dutton V Samantha Maiden
In 2016, Peter Dutton was forced to apologise after calling journalist Samantha Maiden a “mad fucking witch”. The text was sent after former MP Jamie Briggs was ousted, but instead of sending the text to Briggs, Dutton accidentally sent it to Maiden herself.
“I apologised to [Maiden] straight away, which she took in good faith,’’ he said in a statement apologising at the time. “Sam and I have exchanged some robust language over the years, so we had a laugh after this. I’m expecting a tough time in her next column.”
Protesters Don’t Deserve Social Security
In 2019, following extensive climate change protests around the country, Peter Dutton asserted that welfare payments should be cut and mandatory jail sentences should be given to protesters who disrupt traffic.
“Community expectation is these people are heavily fined or jailed and they should be jailed until their behaviour changes because they are putting lives at risk,” he told 2GB radio at the time. “They’re diverting police and emergency service resources from tasks that they should be undertaking otherwise and they keep turning up week after week because they know a slap on the wrist is just not working.
“The premier needs to come out and explain why this is acceptable. If there needs to be mandatory or minimum sentences imposed, that can happen overnight in a Queensland parliament.”
African Gangs
In 2018, Dutton claimed that Melburnians were “scared to go out to restaurants at night time because they are followed home by these gangs”.
This claim was refuted by the Victorian Chief Commissioner at the time, who called his comments “complete and utter garbage”, adding that African gangs aren’t really a thing.