No stranger to controversy, Peter Dutton's offensive pattern of behaviour continues to darken his political career, writes Belinda Jones.
OPPOSITION LEADER Peter Dutton is no stranger to controversy. It has been his constant companion these past 23 years.
Since assuming office as the Member for Dickson in November 2001, Dutton has regularly graced front pages due to offensive comments, uttered falsehoods, hypocrisy, misogynistic remarks, wildly inflammatory statements lacking evidence, funding scandals, ministerial interventions and other faux pas like being linked to shady deals or shady people. Of course, there's sheer incompetence.
Often, Dutton has claimed he was misunderstood or taken out of context, gaslighting the nation into believing it’s us who is getting him wrong — which could be conceivable if such incidents had only happened occasionally over the years.
However, in the Opposition Leader's case, it’s not a one-off — it’s a pattern of behaviour that has been the watermark of his political career.
Let’s recap Dutton's acts after he assumed office as the Member for Dickson in 2001:
2002
1. His First Speech to Parliament criticised courts and civil libertarians with claims that "unacceptable crime rates" were causing older Australians to "barricade themselves" in their homes". He attacked the unemployed:‘We are seeing an alarming number of households where up to three generations – in many cases by choice – have never worked in their lives’.
2008
2. Dutton walked out of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, saying, at the time, that he regarded it as something ‘which was not going to deliver tangible outcomes to kids who are being raped and tortured in communities in the 21st Century’.
2010
3. He tweeted this about a female journalist: ‘Latika must have a date after qn time? Wearing big new dangly earings [sic] and big purple flower’.
4. During Question Time, Dutton said to Minister Nicola Roxon, "On your broomstick, Nicola!".
2013
5. He tweeted: ‘Krudds fringe looks like it's been welded on this morn. More hair spray than Dame Edna’. (In 2022, Dutton later complained about "appearance shaming" after Tanya Plibersek likened him to Lord Voldemort. He was quoted at that time saying, "I just don't think you need to be nasty and mean".
2015
6. Sydney Morning Herald reported that Dutton had Senator Sarah Hanson-Young spied upon during a visit to Nauru in December 2013.
7. He led calls to urge Professor Gillian Triggs to resign as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
8. He personally intervened to stop an Italian au pair – who had come to Australia to work for the family of a former QLD police officer colleague – from being deported.
9. Dutton’s department restored a UK man's visa even though he'd been convicted of being an accessory to murder in a gangland killing.
10. He was caught on a hot mic joking about rising sea levels in Pacific nations.
11. Dutton personally intervened to stop a French au pair from being deported after being lobbied by AFL boss at the time, Gillon McLachlan.
2016
12. He intended to text ‘she's a mad fucking witch' to a former minister about journalist Samantha Maiden but accidentally texted Maiden instead.
13. Dutton was reportedly 'accused of “dirty politics” after report suggested mother deliberately burnt baby Asha'. However, no evidence was found to support his suggestion that the injury of the Nepalese mother's baby was non-accidental.
14. Dutton and his wife bought a shopping centre in Townsville, which he failed to declare in his Register of Members' Interests, finally admitting the “error” in 2020.
15. He said former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser's resettling of Lebanese refugees was a mistake.
16. Dutton stood by his Lebanese resettlement comments.
2017
17. He told CEOs such as Qantas’ Alan Joyce – who campaigned in favour of same-sex marriage – to "stick to their knitting" and to stop using shareholder money for campaigning for same-sex marriage.
18. Dutton clashed with ABC journalist Barrie Cassidy over inflammatory and untrue comments he'd made about the case of a boy on Manus Island.
19. Home Affairs, under his watch, entered into a "high-risk" arrangement with NKW Holdings but did not sign a formal contract until a year later. The struggling company was paid $82 million to feed 209 asylum seekers — the equivalent of $1,400 per day.
20. Dutton said, "I voted No but Yes will win" in the same-sex marriage plebiscite.
21. Home Affairs awarded Canstruct International Pty Ltd – a Brisbane company worth $8 at the time – a contract ultimately valued at $1.6 billion after a "financial strength assessment" was carried out on the wrong company.
2018
22. Dutton stated unequivocally‘Victorians are scared to go out because of “African gang violence”.’.
23. He asked the Home Affairs Department to look into a 'special refugee intake of white South African farmers’.
24. Reportedly, South Africa demanded Dutton retract comments ‘that suggested white farmers were being persecuted and should receive fast-tracked humanitarian visas from a “civilised country”.’.
25. The Federal Court ordered a ten-year-old boy on Nauru at risk of suicide to be treated in Australia; Home Affairs fought the injunction.
26. Dutton was quoted as saying, ‘Some of the crazy lefties at the ABC, Guardian and The Huffington Post… [who] draw mean cartoons about me… they don't realise how completely dead they are to me’.
27. Greens Senator Nick McKim called Dutton racist.
28. Home Affairs awarded a $423 million contract to Paladin, whose registered address was a beach shack on Kangaroo Island.
29. Dutton was quoted as saying that Sudanese gangs are a ‘major law and order problem' in Victoria.
30. It was revealed that in 2014 Dutton had asked Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg to ‘help two Queensland policemen get jobs in the new Border Force’.
31. He launched an attack in Question Time – under Parliamentary Privilege – on former Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg, accusing Quaedvlieg of "grooming" a young woman.
2019
32. The Australian Human Rights Commission warned Dutton that his 'proposal to lower the bar for stripping people… of Australian citizenship… could render people stateless and would be retrospective in application — in possible violation of international law or the rule of law’.
33. He accused disabled Labor candidate for Dickson Ali France of ‘using her disability as an excuse’ for not moving to the seat of Dickson. France was living in a wheelchair-accessible home in an adjoining electorate. Dutton later apologised for the accusation.
34. Dutton's wife does a News Corp interview just ahead of the 2019 Federal Election to declare that her husband is "not a monster".
35. The Australian Federal Police (within Australia's Home Affairs portfolio at the time) raided journalist Annika Smethurst's home. The High Court later ruled the AFP warrant invalid.
36. The Australian Federal Police also raided ABC's Sydney headquarters.
37. Dutton confirmed he allowed two suspected Rwandan killers to settle in Australia.
38. He was quoted as saying that some women refugees were "trying it on", using rape claims and hence the need for an abortion as a ploy to get to Australia.
39. He probed into the reason a two-year-old Australian-born girl from Biloela needed four baby teeth removed (they had rotted while in immigration detention).
40. Dutton attempted to deport the Biloela family from detention in Melbourne, which was interrupted mid-flight by a last-minute injunction when they landed in Darwin.
41. He appeared in a car dealership promotional video — the same dealership was "featured" in a tell-it-like-it-really-is video by Friendlyjordies.
42. Dutton made his infamous "anchor babies" comment about the Biloela family.
2020
43. Dutton launched a verbal attack on the Biloela family, saying, ‘They have used every trick in the book to make sure they can stay’.
44. His High Court bid to try and stop asylum seekers from suing the Federal Government for neglect failed.
2021
45. Dutton said in a press conference – referring to Brittany Higgins' rape allegation – that he "wasn't provided with the 'she said, he said' details of the allegations".
46. He then doubled down on his "she said, he said" remark.
47. Dutton filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi over a tweet.
48. The Biloela family's three-year-old, Tharnicaa Murugappan, was medically evacuated from the Christmas Island detention centre — the delay in her care was justly criticised.
2022
49. The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found Dutton had pork-barrelled Round 3 Safer Communities Funds to marginal seats in the lead-up to the 2019 Election.
50. He was criticised for setting up a fundraiser for flood victims instead of providing emergency assistance.
51. Dutton was featured in Friendlyjordies’ video The Baddest MP, which featured LNP candidate Ryan Shaw who withdrew from the election race around the same time the video was released.
52. It was reported that Dutton's flood fundraiser funds appeared to go to an "unregistered group".
53. Dutton lost his defamation case against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi.
2023
54. Fifteen years after the event, Dutton apologised for boycotting the Apology to the Stolen Generations in February 2008.
55. He confirmed the Liberals would oppose the Voice To Parliament Referendum — thus supporting the 'No' campaign – then demanded "detail" about The Voice.
56. Dutton called for a reinstatement of the ”Work for the Dole” scheme — even though it still existed.
57. He appeared on ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet, where he claimed he'd apologised for his 2016 comments about Lebanese immigrants — although no Lebanese community leader can recall Dutton's apology. Said apology appears to have escaped media reportage.
58. Dutton promised a second referendum if the Voice To Parliament Referendum failed.
59. A peak Islamic body said Dutton's comments on cancelling the visas of pro-Palestinian protesters were ‘designed to inflame tensions' and were ‘grossly irresponsible’.
60. After the Voice Referendum failed, Dutton reneged on his promise to have another referendum on Indigenous Constitutional recognition.
2024
61. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Dutton as a "thug" on an episode of ABC’s Nemesis.
62. Dutton linked peaceful pro-Palestine protest to the Port Arthur Massacre.
63. He revealed seven sites for proposed nuclear plants — a "policy" Dutton released without any details about costs or timeframe and without community consultation.
64. Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja accused Dutton of fuelling Islamophobia after a remark about "Muslim candidates".
65. Dutton was told to"stop being racist" in the House of Representatives by Independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall after he called for a halt to accepting refugees fleeing from Gaza.
So, at least 65 reasons why Peter Dutton is unfit to be Prime Minister of Australia... we've probably missed some.
Belinda Jones is an IA columnist and political commentator. You can follow Belinda on Twitter/X @belindajones68.
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