Pat Comben’s searing political autopsy of Peter Dutton argues that voters didn’t just reject a man — they preserved the integrity of a nation. Anne Layton-Bennett reviews 'Dutton Deconstructed'.
WHEN THE 2025 Federal Election was fast approaching, Dutton Deconstructed came as a warning, designed to encourage Australians to pause before they cast their vote, and seriously consider the character of would-be prime minister Peter Dutton and his suitability to hold the position.
But the warning was academic by the time the book landed in my letterbox almost three weeks after the 3 May Election. The risk had passed and the Albanese Labor Government had been returned in a landslide. But it’s clear after reading it that by their comprehensive rejection of the Peter Dutton-led Liberals, Australians had dodged a large and very dangerous bullet.
There could scarcely have been a person more unsuitable to hold the highest office in the land.
Former Queensland Minister Pat Comben was prompted to write Dutton Deconstructed in the wake of the 2023 Referendum on the Voice to Parliament. Concerned by the “No” campaign’s relentless distortion of facts and the misinformation that circulated in the media, he had recognised how influential Federal Liberal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had been in ensuring the Referendum was defeated.
As a former Queensland Minister for Environment, Heritage and Education, Comben sought to analyse the how and the why behind Dutton’s apparent determination to confuse people about the role of the Voice, and undermine the Albanese Labor Government in his bid for power.
Dutton was clearly buoyed by his success over the referendum result and with a federal election due barely 18 months later, as well as polls that were suggesting he could indeed be the next prime minister, Comben set about compiling all the publicly available evidence that described Dutton’s character, personality and political achievements. This evidence included observations, comments and opinions from Dutton’s peers that all confirmed not just his ambition to hold the top job, but that highlighted character flaws showing he was manifestly unsuitable for the role.
By the author’s own admission, Dutton Deconstructed doesn’t attempt to ‘shirk from examining why others have called [Dutton] a range of terms across a spectrum from “dull” through “Manichean” and “pitiless” to “dishonest and a hypocrite”’.
However accurate such perceptions are about the man, such unrelenting negativity published about a person did not make for a comfortable read, particularly when doing so took place against a background of global unrest and uncertainty. But despite Comben’s freely confessed personal bias about Dutton, it’s clear there was very little material across a range of media that showed Peter Dutton in a positive light.
Despite holding several senior ministerial portfolios since first being elected to the Queensland seat of Dickson in 2001, it was soon apparent Dutton had succeeded in managing none of them well or efficiently. But despite obvious failings, he accepted none of the blame for multiple departmental stuff-ups and questionable policy decisions that occurred under his tenure, or the waste of taxpayer dollars these involved. His modus operandi was always to shift the blame to others.
One example of many documented throughout the book occurred in 2018, when Dutton was the Minister for Home Affairs and had responsibility for the Communities Grants Program. He announced $200,000 funding for security measures to be installed by Tasmania’s Waratah-Wynyard Council and Burnie City Councils.
Comben writes:
During a matter of public interest speech in the Parliament, [Labor’s] Pat Conroy addressed the issue: “The Minister who prides himself on being Mr Law-and-Order breached the program guidelines and funded two ineligible projects he announced before the program began, in a vain effort to win the by-election. To rub salt into the wounds of taxpayers, the Minister spent $36,000 on a VIP RAAF jet to make the announcement. The official explanation from the Minister’s office is that he travelled down to Wynyard for a citizenship ceremony.
Although the book is very readable and is well set out with short chapters under clear subtitles, and has detailed references at the end of each section for each article, quote, comment or speech extract used, it would have benefited both from an index and more careful proof-reading.
Readers hoping to find a more rounded view of Peter Dutton will be disappointed. Others will have their opinions of him reinforced as a divisive, racist, intolerant Liberal Party hard-man lacking in empathy.
Perhaps Dutton’s former parliamentary colleague, George Brandis, provides the most accurate assessment:
Dutton is a serious person with an impressive backstory. While he undoubtedly comes from the Right wing of the Liberal Party, he is strategic, not ideological, a pragmatist, not a zealot. And as [Malcolm] Turnbull realised too late, he is cold-bloodedly ruthless.
I doubt the public will ever warm to him. That will not bother him in the least.
...he knows that politics is a blood sport not a beauty contest.
Dutton not only lost his chance of becoming prime minister in May this year, he also lost his seat. That comprehensive rejection of both the politician and the man suggests voters really didn’t like or accept the version of Australia he was selling. The election result confirmed this opinion.
'Dutton Deconstructed' by Pat Comben is available by contacting Pat via the details in this press release.
This book was reviewed by an IA Book Club member. If you would like to receive free high-quality books and have your review published on IA, subscribe to receive your complimentary IA Book Club membership.
Anne Layton-Bennett is a writer based in Tasmania.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.
