Subjects: Liberal Party leadership; Federal Election result; Indo-Pacific.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Peter Dutton elected unopposed as Liberal Leader and Opposition Leader after a Party Room vote.
The former police officer is the first Queenslander to take the reins of the Liberal Party and he joins us now from Brisbane.
Very good morning to you Pete. Boy, oh boy. It’s a big job you’ve got ahead.
PETER DUTTON:
Morning Ally.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Where do you think Scott Morrison went wrong?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ally, I think our country has gone through an unbelievable couple of years. The impact of Covid and what we’ve seen in small businesses – I mean a lot of people have lost their livelihoods – people have had businesses that have been perfectly good up until COVID collapse.
I mean, all sorts of ingredients. The Government had been in power for nine years and in the end people have had enough, and that’s what happens.
I think there’s still a lot of, you know, suspicion that Anthony Albanese is not up to it and I think in many cases where we saw Labor’s primary vote go backwards as well. People are basically saying it’s a pox on both your houses. We’re not really too keen on either.
Our chance now is to rebuild and to have the policies in place, because I think it is going to be very tough under Labor over the next three years and we’ll have a lot to clean up when we’re elected in 2025.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Look, I like your optimism around that, but I mean, you’re coming from a long way behind. It was your worst result for the party in something like 50 years. How are you going to win back the Moderates, that’s what you lost at this election, when you are seen as the hard man of the Liberal Party?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ally, I’ve got a lot to my story and a lot that I hope people can understand beyond what they’ve just seen when I perform really tough jobs. It was a tough job as Home Affairs Minister. I deported over 6,000 people who had committed offences against women and sexual offences against children and murderers and drug dealers etc. As Defence Minister, I had tough calls to make and you know, it’s hard when you’re up talking on those topics to show another side to who you are.
But in this job, I can talk more broadly about issues that are important to people and I think through good policy, through talking about how we can help small businesses, micro businesses, families with childcare costs – as you know, electricity costs are going to go through the roof under Labor – petrol prices will continue to go up and I think families will really feel that crunch and small businesses will as well.
ALLISON LANGDON:
But I think that goes to the point, and it was the argument in the campaign, is that a lot of those are external factors at play there.
Just talking about issues, because your new Deputy Sussan Ley, she put forward gender quotas yesterday, is that something that you would support?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we want more women into the Parliament. We had some fantastic female candidates in the last election who were winnable seats, but lost those seats. So we can work really hard as a Party, and we should, to make sure that we’ve got more representation…
ALLISON LANGDON:
…okay, but targets haven’t worked. You’ve been working to targets and that hasn’t worked.
You don’t have very many women in your ranks. Would you support or would you look at quotas?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ally, we’ve said that that’s an issue for the Party to look at. The point that I’m making is that if you’re in the Labor Party, if you’re coming up through the ranks as a female candidate, if you lose the election they find a spot for you and pay you wages in the union movement or in an industry super fund.
If you’re in the Liberal Party, you’re coming from a small business, you’re away from the small business campaigning. People can’t afford that. They can’t afford to go back to a business after they’ve lost an election. It is a really tough way for us to bring people into the Party, and we’ve got to work out how we do that.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Okay. Look, will you give the Nats more seats at the table? They deserve it, don’t they?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, they’ve done well in the election, they’re great partners and we have a strong Coalition.
There’s a formula that works all that out and I’ll sit down with David Littleproud, in fact I’ve already done that yesterday, but we’ll continue that discussion to see what that looks like.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Okay. Watch this space.
Ah look, Pacific leaders, they’ve rejected a security and a trade pact with China. It looks like the new Foreign Minister has managed what you guys couldn’t?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ally, I think the issues in the Indo-Pacific are going to continue on for many years. So we really welcome the fact that the Pacific Island leaders are standing up as part of the family in the Indo-Pacific, because nobody wants conflict or that external influence. I hope that that situation can hold. The incredible pressure that the Chinese Government is putting on some of these island nations is quite remarkable and we need to work very closely with them. I’ve said we’ll support whatever the Government is doing in the region and to keep our country safe.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Has Penny Wong done a good job here?
PETER DUTTON:
I think Penny Wong, like Marise Payne before her, is committed, is happy to work off relationships and to get the best outcome for our country. When it comes to those foreign matters, we will be a constructive Opposition. We’ll support good policy where we see it, we’ll oppose it and call out bad policy where we don’t believe that’s in our best interests.
But we’re a better country when we’re united, fighting against what is a bad outcome for our country on the foreign stage.
ALLISON LANGDON:
It looked like it made a difference by just jumping on a plane, going over there and talking a language around climate change that they’ve been receptive to?
PETER DUTTON:
Ally look, if people think that the island leaders are motivated by Penny Wong’s suggestions on climate change, it’s a nonsense. Let’s be honest.
I mean there are all sorts of arrangements that the Chinese can put in place, and the Chinese Government under President Xi is a very different government.
So this issue is going on for years and it will be the biggest issue, I think, in our lifetime because China is heading in a very different direction. That’s the assessment of the Japanese, of the Americans, the Brits, of Australia, all of our strategists have that view.
There’s a long, long way to go on this issue and I hope we can continue to work closely with those near neighbours. We have excellent relationships with those neighbours and we’ll do that from Opposition as well.
ALLISON LANGDON:
All right. Have you spoken to Scott Morrison about his future? Do you expect him to stay in politics?
PETER DUTTON:
I saw Scott yesterday, obviously, and I’ve spoken to him over recent days. I think Scott’s intention, obviously, is to sit on the backbench and to, you know, reassess where he’s at in six or 12 months’ time. But that’s an issue for him. He’s a few days out of the job. So, I think he’ll decide that along with Jenny, what they’ll do next and we wish them all the best.
ALLISON LANGDON:
So potentially a by-election down the track?
PETER DUTTON:
Potentially, and that’s what you see in former leader’s seats. It’s more difficult in the Lower House because it causes a by-election. In the Senate, there’s a casual vacancy, it’s filled, and nobody notices the transition. But that’s been the way it has operated since federation, and we’ll work through all of the mechanics in due course.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Hey Pete, look, as I said, a really big job ahead for you and a huge congratulations on the job. Well done.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks Ally. I appreciate it very much.
[ends]