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Day to Day Politics: Will Dutton lead the Libs?

An article by Jane Cadzow (Peter Dutton: ‘I’m just not impacted by that hatred’) in the Fairfax press on the weekend offers some valuable insights into the man who is being touted as the next leader of the Liberal Party.

The piece canvases Dutton’s character, both private and public. It deals with leadership. A long-suffering malignancy at the heart of Australia’s body politic.

Of our recent leaders with the exception of Tony Abbott, not one lacked the intelligence for the position. All with the exception of one, a woman, governed with self-interest. Not one was perfect in character.

As I read the article I tried to put aside my personal thoughts on the man himself and try to be objective about why it is people think he has the character to lead this nation.

The article begins with an overview of the 46-year-old bald but youthful Immigration minister before the interviewer draws attention to a long row of files behind his desk, each of which contains documents outlining the circumstances of an individual who hopes to remain in Australia.

They are all cases that wait at his leisure a decision as to whether he will allow them to remain in Australia. Never in Australia’s history has so much unrestricted power been given to one individual over the fortunes of individuals and families. Particularly to one, who as the article points out, who sees everything in black and white without room for the slightest shade of hue. Even more power than the Prime Minister.

“He has a lot of discretion,” says Innes Willox, chief executive of an employers’ association, Australian Industry Group, and chair of a ministerial advisory committee on skilled migration. “A lot of people’s fates are in his hands.”

I wonder about the exclusivity of such power with a man who has little time for the complex nature of life.

Cadzow is correct to say that he retains the demeanour of the detective he once was. For many he personifies the image of the plain-clothes copper they wouldn’t like to meet late at night, up a blocked ally. She is also correct to say that ‘’on television he is often so wooden that you can almost hear his media advisers’ sighs of despair.

He often gives the appearance of someone with a huge chip on his shoulder, a willingness to blame others and an out of control self-righteousness. “It is an indication of his level of charisma that his nickname in the corridors of power is Mr Potato Head.”

Leadership is a combination of traits that etch the outlines of a life and grow over time. They govern moral choices and demonstrate empathy toward others. It is far better for those with these qualities to lead rather than follow. In fact it is incumbent on them.

Now I’m not privy to who was responsible for putting Dutton’s name forward as a future leader. The speculation comes as a surprise really because he has never shown any of those characteristics in his time in Parliament.

From his own mouth he says that “personal pizazz isn’t a prerequisite for the highest office.” He is perfectly correct to say so. Probably Bob Hawke was the last one to have any. However, there are other prerequisites that are sacrosanct, like character, honesty, inspiration and integrity.

Probably the speculation arises from the fact that the hard right seem to control his party and he is a credentialed leader, given the qualifications it requires.

Cadzow also says that Dutton and his supporters are aware that a great portion of the Australian public loathes him. Something he may very well share with Christopher Pyne.

“This cold automaton who is non-caring and never sheds a tear – that’s the image that he has,” says Willox, arguing that the characterisation is unfair: “He’s a much deeper person than that public front.”

Apparently Dutton is unconcerned about what people think of him: “I’m just not impacted by that hatred in any way.”

It strikes me that a man who is not impacted by what others think of him has no right to be judging those who wish to remain in Australia.

According to Dutton; “If you’re prepared to fight for what you believe in, then people see you as a strong character.”

Fighting for what you believe in is a fine trait in a man’s character but for a man with fewer facial expressions than all his colleagues put together it is not enough to support a crack at the Prime Ministership.

No one hurls an insult across the chamber with more conviction. “You become a warrior, in a sense,” he says. The problem with this of course is that it is from whence the loathing stems.

With this in mind Kadzow recollects:

“I mention that I was once in a lift in the Commonwealth parliament offices in Sydney with federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten – I was writing a story about him – when Dutton got in, too, bringing the number of passengers to three. Shorten greeted Dutton in a perfunctory way. Dutton did not acknowledge him. At least, that’s the way I remember it.”

“Really?” says Dutton. “That’s pretty unusual. I mean, I have a fair go at Bill at Question Time, but I exchange pleasantries … I actually believe manners are very important.”

Right-wing conservatives seem to think that manners and conservatism are bonded exclusively to them but they are yet to learn the difference between manners and civility. The interview continues into the worthiness of good manners and Dutton is reminded of when he referred to senior News Corp correspondent Samantha Maiden, now with Sky News, as “a mad f…ing witch”.

No wasn’t his intention to offend “I apologised straight away to her,” Dutton says.

The problem with this is that he has form, as we Australians are apt to put it. He despises the ABC and Fairfax in fact if you disagree with him he is more than likely to form a low opinion of you. He has judged the ABCs Q&A as unfit for human consumption even though he says he never watches it and it rates well.

Of Fairfax he recommends that people stop reading their newspapers. “I think it’s a better way to lead your life – that would be my advice,” he said.

Once again I seem to run into this free speech philosophy that conservatives have that it should only be available to those who support their ideology. That we shouldn’t be open to those with alternate views.

The interviewer moves onto the recent incident on Manus Island. I have written much on the subject and I have to put my afore mentioned objective pursuit aside for a moment. I believe he is a guilty as anyone can be of misleading the Australian public and he should resign or be sacked. Anyway as Kadzow puts it:

“Last month – on Good Friday – drunken members of the PNG defence force fired shots at the Manus detention centre, which houses more than 800 men. The Manus police commander, David Yapu, said the violence was sparked by an altercation that had broken out earlier in the day between asylum-seekers and defence force personnel on the soccer pitch of the naval base that surrounds the centre.

Dutton had a different explanation. He said the attack was triggered by a sighting of three asylum-seekers leading a five-year-old boy into the detention centre. His inference was that locals had reason to fear for the boy’s safety: earlier in the year, two asylum-seekers at Manus had been charged with sexual assault. Police commander Yapu responded that the visit by the boy – who was aged about 10, not five – had occurred a week beforehand. The two incidents were not related, Yapu said.

Undeterred, Dutton stuck by his story, telling journalists “there are facts that I have that you don’t”. Eventually the three asylum-seekers lodged a formal complaint, insisting that all they had done was help a hungry child who had been begging for food or money outside the centre. They had walked the boy past the security guard at the gate and sat him on a chair outside their living quarters while they filled two plastic bags with fruit for him, they said. “All these incidents are recorded by your CCTV cameras. We are requesting for the immediate release of the footage of this incident.”

By the time of my second meeting with Dutton, he has seen the footage but hasn’t released it. “I’m not too interested, frankly, in demands that they’re making,” he says of the asylum-seekers. Dutton is “as absolutely convinced of the facts now as I was when I first made this public”. He is also confident that, with or without footage, most right-thinking Australians would agree with his interpretation of events: “I think if common sense is applied here, people can understand what’s been happening.”

To barrister and human rights advocate Julian Burnside, Dutton’s attitude is breathtaking in its arrogance: “He won’t disclose his evidence. He simply says he knows better than people who were on the spot.”

Frankly I don’t see the aforementioned qualities of leadership in this incident. All he has to do is release the tapes to clear it up.

Ben Enquist of the Australia Institute reckons It is clear to Oquist that Dutton’s innuendo about the three men at Manus was “deliberately designed to sow seeds of doubt in people’s sympathy for refugees overall. It was a calculated dog-whistle: ‘These people are potential sexual predators, so hold your sympathy in check’.”

An illustration of Dutton’s propensity for the offensive is when he opens his mouth to speak he cannot do so without reverting to overstatement and outrage.

Remember prior to the last election “he warned of dire consequences if Labor won government and implemented its strategy of curbing skyrocketing house prices by winding back negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount – forms of tax minimisation that benefit property investors. “I think the economy will come to a shuddering halt,” he said on Sydney radio station 2SM, “and I think the stockmarket will crash.”

Given that he has a large property investment, like many others in the Government, it is not hard to understand his opposition to negative gearing.

Before last Christmas a talkback caller rang a Brisbane radio station to say that the lyrics to the song the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas were changed to We Wish you a Happy Holiday, and no carols were performed at a Brisbane primary school. Dutton said the story made his blood boil. Apparently. He gathered all the indignation he could muster. He urged people to rise up against “political correctness gone mad”.

“(As It turned out lots of carols had been sung at a Christmas concert the school held a few days before the end-of-year concert. But by the time that information surfaced, the “war against Christmas” headlines had already been published.)”

I think good judgement is also a part of leadership.

In the recipe of good leadership there are many ingredients. Popularity is but one. It however ranks far below getting things done for the common good.

Showing pitiful judgement Dutton was the only Liberal frontbencher with a ‘no show’ against his name when Kevin Rudd made his apology speech.

In 2008, when Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologised for the past mistreatment of Indigenous Australians, Dutton was the only Liberal frontbencher who wasn’t in parliament to hear it. According to Jane Cadzow Dutton was so determined to boycott the event that he had told the then Liberal leader, Brendan Nelson, that he was prepared to resign if necessary. He says he now regrets staying away: “I didn’t appreciate the symbolism of it, and the importance to Indigenous people.”

Again I cannot help but think of what part judgement and grace play in the recipe of what leadership is.

“I see myself as somebody who was brought up to know the difference between right and wrong.”

An old school friend, former first-class cricketer Joe Dawes, agrees with Dutton’s wife Kirilly that one of his defining characteristics is his certitude. “He’s always had very strong views on most things,” says Dawes. Even as a kid “he had a strong view on how the world should be, how things should be done”

Many people have strong views, myself included. Because of this they are often called biased. There are also those who have listened at length to many views. They are called reasoned.

In other portfolios he hasn’t made any great impact. As Health Minister a poll conducted by Australian Doctor magazine voted him the worst federal health minister in the past 35 years.

It is as immigration Minister that Dutton has made his name. His personality somehow fits the title and as Jane Kadzow points out. Many expect that, by the time of the next election Dutton’s responsibilities will have expanded to include the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and he will have the new title of Minister for Homeland Security. Defence and intelligence analyst Hugh White has misgivings. “I don’t think the scale of terrorism threat we face is anything like sufficient to justify the risks involved in concentrating this amount of power in one institution and in one minister,” says White. It seems to him that the creation of the super-ministry would have only one clear goal: “To placate Dutton’s ambition.”

Jane Kadzow has written an intelligent, in-depth, fair and lengthy work on Minister Peter Dutton. You can read it in full here.

As for me I have failed in my attempt to be objective. I remain one of those who loath him.

My thought for the day

Humility is the basis of all intellectual advancement. However, it is truth that enables human progress.

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41 comments

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  1. havanaliedown

    He’s so hated for doing his job well: maintaining our Immigration system.

    I’ve met Peter, had a beer with him and he’s a good bloke. A good listener. Thoughtful, pleasant. Natural.

    Leader of the Liberals? Not yet, at least. Malcolm will be rolled by Julie Bishop just as parliament resumes in 2018. Julie has many fine attributes, even if her disloyalty to Abbott is taken into account – attractive, presentable, articulate, tough, energetic, fit, witty, stylish, with excellent communication skills at all levels, happy and confident when interacting with the general public, at ease on the world stage. Loved by Western Sydney suburbanites, and she loves them in return. She’s tough, too – who would envy her going into bat for James Hardies?

    Who in Labor could beat her in a federal election campaign?

    Shorten? Albo? Plibersek? Julie would beat them like red-headed stepchildren.

  2. Suziekue

    Thank you for unpacking Jane Cadzow’s article on Dutton. I did attempt to read Cadzow’s words, but had great difficulty moving past my utter contempt for the man and my suspicion that the article is the beginning of the MSM’s public grooming of him to take over from Turnbull.

  3. townsvilleblog

    Dutton is arrogant enough to be a good Opposition Leader in the short term, as a stop gap, if he wins his Queensland seat again.

  4. Terry2

    With all the bluster and aggressive rhetoric we get from Peter Dutton what we don’t see is competent, effective and coherent job performance ; in addition to being rated as the worst Health Minister in 35 years you would have thought that since assuming his current role there would have been more by way of achievements.

    Clearly, his priorities as Immigration Minister were not to build an empire within his extended department but to focus his energies on resettling refugees, particularly those held offshore. By any measure his performance in this area has been abysmal despite massive costs being incurred on Nauru and Manus plus the $50 million given to Cambodia for a failed resettlement program that has so far abandoned about half a dozen people in that country.

    We also have the case of alleged payments made by Border Force personnel to people smugglers on the high-seas with the objective of bribing them to turn their boats around and dump their passengers anywhere that is not Australia – why has there been no investigation into this unlawful practice, on Dutton’s watch.

    Dutton , as a prospect for leadership of the once great Liberal Party of Australia is a joke and would have Menzies turning in his grave. The one contribution that Mr Potato Head has made is to give business schools a classic representative illustration of the Peter Principle in action.

    The Peter Principle : in a hierarchy people tend to rise to “their level of incompetence.” Thus, as people are promoted, they become progressively less-effective because good performance in one job does not guarantee similar performance in another.

  5. Carol Taylor

    I would suggest that the only reason that Dutton’s name is being mentioned is that the Libs have no one else. Abbott has become an even bigger joke, Bishop is unacceptable given that she’s a moderate (anyone to the left of Attila the Hun is a “leftie” these days) and has been lacklustre in her portfolio, and then there is….well, there actually isn’t anyone is there.

  6. johnlord2013

    Havaliedown. Do you consider keeping people in indefinite detention having not committed any crime as just doing your job? What possible reason for incarceration without crime can you give?

  7. freefall852

    Could have been written just to apply to the LNP ministers themselves.
    “As rivers glisten in different colours, but a common sewer everywhere looks like itself…” Theodore Mommsen.

  8. helvityni

    freefall852, thanks for the Theodore Mommsen quote, says it all..

  9. Audioio

    Dutton, like ScoMo before him, is an accessory to murder. What a good look his ascendency would be for Australia: a PM who doesn’t dare travel overseas for fear of being arrested and deported to The Hague.

  10. havanaliedown

    Johnlord, they can go back to their country of origin at any time. They were warned that they would not be able to get to Australia. Unfortunately we cannot let everybody that wishes to circumvent our immigration system arrive in Indonesia by airliner, pay people traffickers for passage to Christmas Island and ditch their IDs during the short voyage, and access our welfare cornucopia like Labor were happy to encourage and allow between 2007-2013.

  11. Michael Taylor

    These people are fleeing for their lives. To be sent back from where they came would be a death sentence. If that’s what you wish upon them, then I am lost for words.

  12. Freethinker

    I hope that the party put Dutton as a leader so they will lose next election by huge margin.
    Bishop? bring her on, she is not popular at all.
    havanaliedown, Dutton doing his job well? perhaps only for those that have very low value for human life.

  13. havanaliedown

    Yep, roll up everyone with a sob story. Survey Labor MPs – the majority believe (as most here do): “there’s no such thing as an illegal immigrant, so let ’em all in”. That’s why Labor/Greens will lose the next election (along with the inevitable Big Power Bill).

  14. Michael Taylor

    Yep, roll up everyone with a sob story.

    What a heartless person you are.

  15. Freethinker

    A clear example why we have the coalition in government and why ON have so many votes.
    Similar to why Trump is president in USA.

  16. johnlord2013

    It is as Michael says and your answer lacks any empathy. Would you risk death havaliedown. They are kept in incarceration to show others their fate and who gives a stuff about the law and the rights of the individual. Certainly not Dutton.

  17. freefall852

    Michael, if you are “lost for words”, I suggest you consult the verbose havana’ to get some clues on his style of “short-story posting” as he appears quite capable of encompassing ALL the scenarios and tribulations of the fleeing refugee and other matters concerning Australian politics in approx 80 words or less!..I don’t recall any right-wing poster having the skill exhibited at compressing the salvation and solution of humanity’s conundrums in such a short statement..( although I do allow a certain cretonious capability of theirs to stumble over a dozen or so complex adjectives).
    Under such a hand, the Bible would be reduced to but one slim volume…the Bhagavad-Gita but a sharp cough and the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica a brochure or two!
    We are truly missing the opportunity of witnessing profound wisdom by not offering him the space to put up an article of approx 1000 words to extrapolate his vision of how : “The Right-wing policies can shape our world for the better”..or some such epistle.
    We await his response in nail-biting anticipation.

  18. Carol Taylor

    A complete and utter falsehood. There are some people who, lacking the intellectual capacity to differentiate, believe if someone comes to Australia claiming refugee status, that ALL are “illegal”. Illegal are the vast numbers of Visa overstayers not those fleeing persecution. After extensive investigation by governments both Labor and Liberal, claims are assessed and those found to be not genuine are deported. But why should such logic bother anyone hell bent on being a racist.

  19. Michael Taylor

    We await his response in nail-biting anticipation.

    Our fingers will be chewed away to the knuckles before we get an intelligent response.

  20. Michael Taylor

    But why should such logic bother anyone hell bent on being a racist.

    Carol, somewhere in his response will be “I’m not a racist …”

  21. havanaliedown

    Before I get ready to go to work, Carol – assuming that you have a lock on your front door, and decide who you let into your home – does that make you a racist bigot?

  22. Freethinker

    I will be happy to have a compassion in his response, but I cannot see it.
    Some people need to suffer go trough pain to be able to learn.

    havanaliedown, your last post shows your level of intellect, intelligence and on that note debate with you will be come to a level that I refuse to be.’

  23. Kaye Lee

    havanaliedown,

    You are no doubt aware that Labor tried several strategies to actually address the wordwide rise in displaced people only to be blocked by the Coalition at every turn. They blocked the Malaysia solution but have paid Cambodia $55 million to take three people. Labor also increased the humanitarian intake so more people could come by conventional channels. They also had a 90 day rule which was a statutory requirement for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to report on how many claims were processed within 90 days of a completed application being received. Abbott abolished it. Labor also realised that foreign aid spending was a crucial factor in helping stem the flow of refugees. The Coalition have slashed that as well.

    Labor want an independent children’s advocate and to reinstate access to the Refugee Review Tribunal – it is sheer folly to put this much power in the hand’s of one man, especially if that man is an ideological populist (if such a thing exists).

    It has been a deliberate electoral strategy to use the ugly xenophobia that still exists in Australia. That is despicable.

  24. Kaye Lee

    What a facile analogy. We do checks on those who come to our country for starters. They aren’t “let in” without passing many criteria.

    Perhaps your analogy would make more sense if you extended it to excluding people from the town you live in and yes, that would make you a racist bigot.

  25. Carol Taylor

    It does, if you specifically won’t invite people into your house because of the colour of their skin. Or if you hurl abuse at young girls at bus stops because they wear a headscarf. Or if you possess a smug indifference to the suffering of others.

  26. freefall852

    havanaliedownMay 29, 2017 at 9:38 am

    “Before I get ready to go to work,”……9.38am and he’s just getting ready for work..??..about says it all, I reckon…: Used car salesman?

  27. Michael Taylor

    Or if you possess a smug indifference to the suffering of others.

    Bingo! That just about sums him up.

  28. Michael Taylor

    freefall, I’m glad he’s on his way to work. Let’s hope he doesn’t work part-time so won’t be home until late.

  29. freefall852

    I leave this link to a short story I wrote a while back about an Italian relative who was brought to Australia as a young lad just after the second world war..Although it is written for dramatic effect, it is based on true events ..as many Italian migrants, and indeed, ANY migrants to this country could concur. I hope you will excuse the taking of the opportunity of using this political blog for such a thing, but I do believe it is pertinent to the emotion (which seems to be sadly lacking in many) of the loss of both country and family. I hope you “enjoy” it.
    Saying Goodbye to Ferruchio.

  30. Gilly

    Dutton is an excellent Minister from a Party perspective, he is relentless in implementing Party policy. It is the policies that are abhorrent. I would suggest better Dutton be given the PMship convicted in The Hague, losing the Nuremberg defense and thus making Governments fully responsible for illegal policy

  31. Jagger

    From where I sit John, it’s looks like Dutton is already the PM, Turnball has the title, nothing else.

  32. Freethinker

    What it is going on in the Coalition! Are they under the influence of something that affect their reason or are panicking because the polls?
    Quote:
    George Christensen ✔ @GChristensenMP
    I will be introducing a bill to protect penalty rates from Fair Work & restore penalty rates cut by union agreements. Will Labor support it?
    10:51 AM – 29 May 2017

    George Christensen ✔ @GChristensenMP
    I oppose workers having penalty rates cut, whether it be via Fair Work or union agreements. What is Labor’s view? https://www.facebook.com/gchristensenmp/posts/1304008609654064:0
    10:44 AM – 29 May 2017

    A reply by ALP

    Brendan O’Connor ✔ @BOConnorMP
    @GChristensenMP .@GChristensenMP if you really oppose workers having #penaltyrates cut, then you need to vote for Labor’s Bill #auspol
    11:31 AM – 29 May 2017

  33. Wayne Turner

    “havanaliedown” – Every non argument you use is just a “strawman” fallacy ie: You misrepresent others views,and than argue against said misrepresentation.

    Eg: “there’s no such thing as an illegal immigrant, so let ’em all in” – No one has said that,or thinks that.There are checks and balances that take place.Such as health checks.People have a legal right to seek asylum,even by boat.Everyone of these people need to have their claims checked.We do NOT know if they are illegal or NOT.IE: At this point their status is unknown.The issues include: NOT assessing these peoples claims fast enough,and even just claiming these people are illegal without even checking these.Plus,of course locking people up for years in the process,and demonizing them to appease the selfish and ignorant.

    Finally,Dutton’s NOT fit to run anything.He just uses fallacies himself eg: “Damning the source” – Told he is the worst ever health minister.Instead of pointing out why isn’t true,and what good work he did.Instead he just attacks the source that pointed out how terrible he is. Also,refusing to provide evidence on his claims regarding what happened on Manus,shows Dutton’s claims MUST NOT be believed,because he has to prove his claims.It’s NOT our job,to disprove them,when others there already have disproved Dutton’s claims.Plus,Dutton is another moronic Abbott,without the um’s,eh,um, instead a boring monotone,and certainly just as deluded,arrogant,heartless and stupid.With this Liberal parties recent track record,and gullible electorate.Sounds like a shoe in for PM.Australia the country of opposites.

  34. Terry2

    The class action on behalf on Manus Island detainees commences in the Victorian Supreme Court today.

    “The 1905 group members are seeking compensation for alleged physical and psychological injuries they argue they suffered as a result of the conditions on which they were held on Manus Island.

    They are also seeking additional damages for false imprisonment after the PNG Supreme Court ruled the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island was unconstitutional.

    The case, due to begin in the Victorian Supreme Court this week, is expected to be the largest trial concerning immigration detention in Australia.”

    This case is going to be a watershed as it will finally expose the hypocrisy of the Abbott/Turnbull governments and the claims consistently made by Dutton that the detention centre is not our responsibility and that all the blame rests with the PNG government – we already know that the PNG Supreme Court has ruled the detention centre to be unconstitutional. Dutton has also fueled the legal fiction that, because detainees are allowed out during daylight hours, they are not actually detained : the Hotel California defence.

    Whether you are in favour of offshore detention or not, you must, I would think, acknowledge that we need legal clarification on what has been a highly questionable practice by successive governments and as a country that believes in the rule of law we should all be pleased that finally we will get some legal clarity.

    If the case succeeds it will, as I have anticipated in the past, cost the taxpayer a lot of money in damages but that’s what you get when you engage in unlawful activities.

  35. passum2013

    In couple of words in Australian >Bloody Hope Not<

  36. silkworm

    Dutton is a psychopath – he lies without conscience. As for not having a sense of humour, in fact he made a cruel and cynical joke about Pacific Islanders suffering from the effects of climate change, which he denies is happening.

  37. silkworm

    “… drunken members of the PNG defence force fired shots at the Manus detention centre…”

    This is the nub of the issue. This is an international incident, threatening a blowup between PNG and Australia relations over the existence of the detention centre on Manus island. The lie about asylum seekers bringing a 5yo boy into the camp and its conflation with the soccer nmatch incident was just a means of deflecting from the shots by drunken PNG soldiers. It effectively stopped the public asking questions about the shootings and its implications.

  38. Ceridwen66

    History amply illustrates that the most infamously vicious death squads and concentration camps were never run by dissidents, agitators, rebels and activists, but by people just doing their jobs. Do we really wish to see the COALition’s version of a mafia button man, a man bereft of even the slightest modicum of empathy or humanity, lead a hard-line, fascist, conservative political party renowned for high level corruption, ineptness and bigotry? The thought of potato head fronting an Australian federal intelligentsia of police, surveillance, anti-terrorism strategy and homeland security makes my blood run cold. Not in my name.

    The day it happens, is the day I claim asylum in Iceland.

  39. Peter F

    Ignore havinaliedown – He/She hasn’t had his/her Bex.

  40. babyjewels10

    I can’t even entertain the idea of Dutton as the leader of the Libs. Probably because I’ve completely lost my sense of humour.

  41. Phil Atkinson

    On the subject of Dutton’s possible(?) elevation to Liberal Party leadership, this article omits one very important factor – whether he will be re-elected in the seat of Dickson, which he currently holds with a 1.5% margin. Given the polls and the Coalition’s dismal performance to date on any conceivable issue, it’s very likely that Dutton will be unceremoniously dumped by the voters. And good riddance. But is the Liberal Party so bereft of talent they would even consider Dutton? The answer has to be “Yes!”

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