Liberals to Decide Whether Defence Minister Peter Dutton Is Opposition Leader

Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton addresses media as Liberal member for Canning, Andrew Hastie looks on in Perth, Australia on April 19, 2021. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)

Several Liberal MPs have backed the former Minister of Defence Peter Dutton as the front runner to lead the centre-right party after the federal election saw the centre-left Labor party secure a victory over the coalition.

The call comes after the moderate faction of the Liberal party suffered major losses, with some of the Liberals including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg losing seats to Climate 200-backed “teal” independents, making Dutton the most potential candidate left.

Victorian MP Alan Tudge described Dutton, who was considered by some as the leader of the Liberal’s conservative faction, as “a person of immense character, experience” with “very deep values in the Liberal Party,” adding that he thought “we need to go back to those values.”

“I think he’ll be a very effective Liberal leader at holding the Labor Party to account,” he told Sky News on Monday.

“That party has talked up a big game on inflation, talked up a big game on the interest rate. Let’s see how that’s delivered on some of their policies. Let’s see how that’s delivered on climate change without making electricity prices go through the roof.”

While Dutton is widely endorsed as the opposition leader, other names have also been considered, including ex-home affairs minister Karen Andrews and former trade minister and Victorian Dan Tehan.

Liberal senator James Patterson said he trust Dutton’s ability to handle the budget, slash taxes and build up the economy. He added that there is “a very strong consensus forming“ that the former Minister of Home Affairs is ”the right choice to lead us through these times.”

Patterson further noted that parts of Liberal’s loss came from the lack of trust of voters who felt the party doesn’t demonstrate their Liberal values “clearly enough” in the past few years.

“If we are able to re-earn the trust of voters to manage the economy, to manage our national security and defence, then we have a very good prospect of returning to government,” he told The Australian.

Meanwhile, Western Australian Labor premier Mark McGowan criticised Dutton as “an extremist” who doesn’t “fit with modern Australia at all.”

“Peter Dutton was the principal one out there talking about war, and war footing, and conflict and so forth,” McGowan told the press conference on Monday.

“He doesn’t seem to listen and he’s extremely conservative.

“I actually don’t think he’s that smart ... I’ve seen him present on things, I don’t really pick up that there is much there.”

But Senior Nationals MP David Littleproud rebuked the attack, saying Dutton provided the balance Australians were looking for in a federal leader.

“On economic and national security he is quite hard … [but] he is more pragmatic on some of the more social and environment issues than people think,” he told the Nine Network on Tuesday.

In the 2015 election, Dutton challenged then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal leadership role but lost by five votes. He made a second attempt in 2019, only to be edged out by Scott Morrison.

Dutton-Led Party Would Stick to Its Roots

If he becomes leader, Dutton would be expected to lead the Liberal Party back to its classical liberal and conservative base amid calls for the party to target aspirational voters and differentiate themselves from Labor as a path back to parliament.

This approach, however, encountered pushbacks from the Liberal’s moderate faction such as Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham and former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who are calling for the traditionally centre-right party to put climate change and gender equality high on the agenda to win back inner-city seats from “teal” independents.

“We need to make sure we win back many more of those professionals and especially Australian women who are much more highly educated,” Birmingham said.

This opinion is echoed by the NSW treasurer and leading moderate Matt Kean, who argued the lesson of the election night was “when the Liberal party goes too far to the right we lose in the centre.”

But Employment Minister Stuart Robert rejected proposals that the Liberal party should become more progressive to attract more votes.

“The key thing for the Liberal-Nationals parties is to represent aspiration,” he told Nine Network on Monday. “We have always been a sensible centre-right party and that is where which we should stay.”

Meanwhile, Liberal Senator for South Australia Alex Antic says many candidates who lost their seats were, in many cases, people who were “trying to appease the climate crowd.”

“The time is now to understand that, the Liberal Party’s experiment with the poison of leftism and progressivism must be over,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

The contest for the deputy leader position is considered to be more competitive, with up to six candidates considering putting their hands up for the role, including Tasmanian Liberal Bridget Archer, former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, and environment minister Sussan Ley.