Since attaining the dubious honour of Liberal Party Leader, Peter Dutton has really taken that mantle to new depths.
It’s important to note that he was elected, unopposed, by his party room colleagues. Though it is hard to know whether this is because the Leader of the Opposition commands respect among his peers or if no one else was stupid enough to take on the role after Scott Morrison left the building – and the party – decimated and broken.
Nonetheless, let it not be said that Mr Seventeen Per Cent hasn’t made the role his own. After all, even at his least popular, ScoMo didn’t get close to such abysmal approval ratings.
Inimitable unpopularity aside, it’s vital that we do not underestimate the power of the “friendly” media mafia. Readers may remember that the likelihood of Tony Abbott or Scott Morrison ever becoming prime ministers, was also once considered impossible.
But even if Dutton becoming PM is as likely as Gina Rinehart voluntarily doubling the wages of her employees just to thank them for a job well done, there’s still the question of cut-through. There is no doubt that sustained undermining, insults and general negativity create a discourse we may never otherwise have had.
This approach worked a treat for Tony Abbott, who – with the help of the Murdoch-led lynch mob – broadcast the “carbon tax” mantra until Australia’s first and only female PM Julia Gillard was run out of town with pitchforks and climate change policy was set back 50 years.
Still on Abbott's "achievements", the “stop the boats” idiocy also created a false narrative about asylum seekers and refugees that saw this nation adopt the most hateful human rights policies outside the Pol Pot regime.
And then there’s the Coalition as “better economic managers” blather, frequently debunked here on IA, but still known to get a guernsey in the "friendly" (but only to conservatives) media.
Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has now openly accused the Murdoch media empire of "working as a team" with Scott Morrison, which we have, of course, discussed at length, though we would also add the other major media players here.
Needless to say, the friendly media cohort is nothing if not determined.
And so, in order that we may be prepared for the inevitable onslaught of warm, fuzzy puff pieces about Dutton’s “soft side” and the “truth” about his attacks on climate change/”boat people”/”not enough detail” on The Voice re-emerge, we have put together a handy list of reasons as to why the Member for Dickson should just no longer be heard.
1. VOICE TO PARLIAMENT
The Voice referendum is an important step in reconciliation for Australia, now known to be the “only first world nation with a colonial history that does not recognise its first people".
But rather than embrace bipartisanship on this issue, Dutton has belligerently turned his back on every opportunity to inform himself about it, claiming that not enough "detail" has been provided.
And then we get to his walking out on the Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008. Last year, a full 14 years later, Dutton miraculously discovered this was a "mistake".
Dutton's endless negative prattle on The Voice is evidence enough that this excuse is disingenuous.
2. HUMAN RIGHTS
Nothing demonstrates Dutton's true nature and blatant absence of empathy more than the topic of human rights.
Dutton's resume is particularly detailed (pardon the pun) in this area but here are just a few previously documented lowlights:
- As a ten-year-old refugee repeatedly tried to kill himself to escape his horrific life in prolonged mandatory detention, Minister Dutton denied the child urgent medical treatment in Australia, fighting medical professionals, aid agencies and even magistrates for two whole years — almost literally, to the death.
- In 2019, an inquest into the death of 24-year-old asylum seeker Hamid Kehazaei's death found Australia solely responsible for his "preventable" death, while on Dutton's watch.
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Dutton said compassion must not be shown towards refugees as"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."
3. RACISM
Unlike the treatment Dutton doled out to asylum seekers from non-White nations, in 2018, he decided it would be a good idea to fast-track visas for "persecuted" white South African farmers needing assistance from a "civilised" country like Australia — forgetting that there wasn't even a queue of White South Africans trying to obtain Australian visas (unlike the Rohingya, for example).
Regarding Black people from Africa, however, Dutton, in a failed attempt to fuel the culture wars, claimed people were afraid to walk the streets or go to restaurants in Melbourne (where else but in Dan Andrews' home state?) for fear of being beaten up by "African" gangs. Only this was a complete fabrication, which Melbournians thankfully ignored.
4. CLIMATE CHANGE DENIER
Dutton, like many of his Coalition mates, is a climate denier and he has relentlessly attempted to sabotage climate change policy.
In one illuminating (ahem) example of the depth of his ignorance, Dutton claimed "you can't store solar energy at night until the sun shines in the morning".
He has gaslighted and ridiculed every policy resembling progress on the climate emergency. And, again showing his famous lack of compassion, even laughed at the plight of Pacific nations suffering the devastating effects of global warming.
Today, as the Prime Minister of Vanuatu was welcomed to Canberra, the Opposition Leader could have apologised for his disgusting behaviour but chose to stay mute. No doubt he will claim this to be a mistake in another 14 years' time.
5. SELECTIVE FREE SPEECH & HEARING IMPAIRMENT
We lost count of the number of times the Member for Dickson and then Leader of the House, whenever Question Time was not going his way, rose and said:
“Mr Speaker, I move that the member be no longer heard.”
In this way, Dutton (and his Coalition mates) hid from any sound debate, dodged requests to provide “detail” and ran a mile whenever he might have been held accountable, making a mockery of our democratic system of government.
With the shoe on the other foot, however, the Leader of the Opposition demands detail, despite being provided with reams of information he clearly doesn’t bother to read.
He does not offer constructive criticism, which is, of course, the purpose of the Opposition, nor does he engage in meaningful debate. Rather than embrace bipartisanship on key policy areas that warrant it, “Detail” Dutton only disrupts, derails and destroys, opposing everything for opposition’s sake.
Dutton takes former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's “unfunded empathy” to deeper and even less compassionate territory.
The Opposition Leader is a dark and destructive force, enabled by the friendly media family to spread mistruths, fear and hate about climate, Indigenous rights, bigotry, free speech and most of the things that matter to compassionate, informed Australians.
The Member for Dickson Peter Dutton simply no longer deserves to be heard.
This editorial was originally published as part of the Independent Australia weekly newsletter – usually only available to subscribers – and may be read online in the IA members-only area.
You can follow managing editor Michelle Pini on Twitter @vmp9. Follow Independent Australia on Twitter @independentaus and on Facebook HERE.
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