- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2121
Peter Dutton at the 2018 Sub-Regional Meeting on Counter Terrorism in Indonesia. Photo: Australian Embassy Jakarta – Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
With the coming state election in Queensland, it’s worth a look at Peter Dutton, the first Liberal leader to come from Queensland. If the Liberal-National Party wins, it will be seen as a partial vindication of his politics.
Dutton objects to the Liberals being called a “right-wing party,” although its policies obviously are. Dutton’s police background is shown in his criticism of the Civil Liberties Council: “the criminal lawyers media operative, who appear obsessed with the rights of criminals yet do not utter a word of understanding or compassion for the victims of crime.” He has also attacked the prison sentences in Australia for being, he thinks, too short: “Time after time we see grossly inadequate sentences being delivered to criminals whose civil rights have far exceeded those of the victim and others in our society. This imbalance must be addressed.”
From time to time, Dutton tries to convince Australians he’s down to earth. He bought his first property at the age of 18. He and his wife built up a portfolio, which includes a $2.3 million, four-bed mansion on the Gold Coast’s “Millionaire’s Row” in Palm Beach, and a Townsville shopping mall. Dutton has purchased other properties in Queensland and the ACT. The multi-millionaire and his family live on a two-hectare block at Camp Mountain in his Queensland electorate.
The opposition leader has a long history of controversy, facing numerous allegations of wrongdoing while accumulating his wealth. He and his father founded Dutton Holdings in 2000, operating under six different trading and business names, now trading as Dutton Building & Development. The company bought, renovated, and converted buildings into childcare centres. In 2002 it sold three childcare centres to the now defunct ABC Learning. The company paid $100,000 to rent a former church which the Dutton Holdings bought, renovated and turned into a childcare centre. In 2004 Dutton received two donations, $5,000 and $10,000 from ABC Learning boss and Brisbane businessman Eddy Groves.
In June 2007, the Courier Mail reported that Dutton denied a conflict of interest relating to his childcare centre business, which Labor said had “serious questions to answer.” Penny Wong urged then-Prime Minister John Howard to investigate whether he had breached the code of conduct and profited personally from policy decisions. The Attorney General failed to reproach Dutton’s activities.
As Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was known as the worst minister in decades. To give a signal to people-smugglers he allowed the waiting list for legal assistance for asylum seekers to be up to twelve months. Refugees protested, chanting: “Blood on your hands.” Home Affairs, apparently created to give Dutton more power, was a mess. Dutton militarised the department, putting immigration officials in quasi-military uniforms. Dutton was slammed as an unfeeling Immigration Minister, who “stopped the boats” by militarising the department with “Operation Sovereign Borders,” sending asylum seekers to offshore detention centres. His policies were a failure.
In 2019 a whistleblower complained to the commonwealth ombudsman that Dutton’s Home Affairs department prepared a ministerial briefing on the case of a convicted drug trafficker to stop him being deported. The commonwealth ombudsman said it could not comment on the complaint, as disclosures about “the conduct of members of parliament is not covered” by Australia’s whistleblower laws.
In August 2023, during the Voice referendum, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) rebuked Dutton for making the “factually incorrect” statement that a tick on a Voice referendum ballot paper counted as a vote, but a cross was not counted, giving advantage to the Yes vote. Dutton was also criticised for the $75,000 bill for a seven-day parliamentary trip to the US with his wife.
In June 2024 Peter Dutton put forward nuclear energy as a solution to future energy supply problems, an idea not new to the Coalition. Recently Dutton visited Israel, sponsored by the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), and now wants to halt Australia accepting humanitarian refugees from Gaza. He “pledged to ‘rebuild’ Australia’s relationship with Israel.”
Dutton has a history of race-based language. As Crikey’s Bernard Keane said, if Dutton isn’t a racist, he’ll do until the real ones show up. He has called for a ban on all Palestinian immigration. He has previously criticised what he called “Lebanese-Muslim” immigration. He claimed that Victorian (presumably he meant white) people were “scared to go out to restaurants of a night time” because of “African gangs.” He also talked about “Sudanese gangs.” In another race-based comment, Dutton called for a special refugee intake for white South African farmers who he said would “integrate into our society.” Dutton and the Liberal Party were emboldened by the defeat of the Voice referendum.
The opposition leader is seeking money from the Liberal Party’s wealthy supporters to help in the next federal election. In the first week of October, Dutton hosted a series of big fundraising events in Sydney and Melbourne inviting the party’s ruling class supporters. Tickets for a private lunch with Cook MP, Simon Kennedy, in Sydney started at $4,000 up to $10,000 a person. A luncheon was held for the Liberal Party’s candidate Katie Mullens in the Tingha Palace in Parramatta Leagues Club. A $5,000-a-head private boardroom lunch was hosted by the Mitchell Federal Electorate Conference. A ticket cost between $5,000 and $10,000 at Melbourne’s male-only Athenaeum Club.
