Managing editor David Donovan paints a portrait of Peter Dutton.
NOW, here’s the thing.
Sometimes all you need to do is look at someone’s face and their inner demon reveals itself. Some people are better at concealing their worst side, but one of those people is not Peter Dutton.
Now, I am not going to get into calling Dutton names. Yes, I have probably been one of the worst offenders in calling him a potato, or spud, or chip, or some other sort of vegetarian dish.
In fact, indeed, Dutton is a very intelligent man. By calling him names, we diminish the malevolence, malignance and maleficence of this man.
The traits reveal themselves in almost every image I’ve seen taken of him.
This man, who holds the nation’s biggest and most powerful portfolio, which includes control of border protection and security services, has few redeeming features. This is not to say he is ugly. Some wag recently photoshopped a feminine wig on this particularly creature recently and, surprisingly, he was revealed to have fairly fine features. No. It is nothing too crude and obvious as his appearance. Dutton’s devil is revealed in his glower and his stare. His dead fish eyes. His visage, overall. It chills me to the bone. It is frightening.
Peter Dutton is a former Queensland drug cop — not the most sterling recommendation, perhaps, in some eyes. But far more importantly, he is a man — a power hungry despot, in truth, as it seems to be emerging. A capricious and self-interested man, or so it is alleged, who exercises his ample discretion to reward his allies and punish his foes.
And one who almost became our Prime Minister. Now that’s something, in sooth, to trouble one’s dreams.
I’ll stop beating around the bush. Evidence is coming out. People are starting to see the man behind the photo. And though I cannot attest entirely, some recent revelations are disturbing.
Here is a very slender slice of executive editor Michelle Pini’s take on the shade in the man:
Dutton's early speeches were characterised by themes with which he has concerned himself for most of his parliamentary career — people and groups which he termed, "the boisterous minority and the politically correct".
In 2001, in his maiden speech, Dutton said:
"The silent majority, the forgotten people – or the aspirational voters of our generation, as some like to term them – are fed up with bodies like the Civil Liberties Council and the Refugee Action Collective, and certainly the dictatorship of the trade union movement."
Michelle Pini went on to say that Dutton
…. is the same man who … said compassion must not be shown towards refugees:
"It's essential that people realise that the hard-won success of the last few years could be undone overnight by a single act of compassion in bringing 20 people from Manus to Australia."
Indeed, although Dutton has continued the heinous policies originally enacted by Morrison et al, he has relished the role of overlord, systematically crushing every effort to free, assist, or even save people, including children, from certain death.
Investigations editor Ross Jones explored the same theme further in an IA news article last Wednesday, given the provocative headline: ‘Dutton's alleged corrupt link to drug kingpin’.
What comes after is just a tantalising, teasing, taste:
… here it is, glaring all over the 'net — lurid allegations for all to see.
Dutton, who has a reputation as one of the thinner-skinned potato varieties, has seemingly taken no action despite the ease with which he could squash this bug.
The obvious question is, why not?
The answer that first springs to mind is that maybe the story has a few grains of truth and that given the upcoming election, where according to Sportsbet the Rhizome is a $3 outsider to Labor’s $1.33, the last thing he wants is ‘Dutton's Secret Drug Cartel Connection: The William Betham Case’ splashed over the MSM.
And now we hear the Paladin allegations.
The is only half the story! The complete version of this editorial may be read in the IA members only area HERE.
Access the members only area – and the many other subscriber extras – by subscribing to Independent Australia HERE.
You can follow managing editor Dave Donovan on Twitter @davrosz. Follow Independent Australia on Twitter at @independentaus and on Facebook HERE.
Independent Australia presents Julian Burnside AO QC — Australian barrister, tireless human rights and refugee advocate, and author. At this special Melbourne event on 6 March 2019, Julian will expose the truth about Australia's border protection policy. Proceeds will be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). Book tickets HERE.
