According to the Liberal Party campaign launch, Peter Dutton is a “tough” former police officer, a “courageous” leader, and, it bears repeating over and over, a man.
But he’s also someone who “cares deeply … on the inside”, a devoted father and husband, and a son who inherited his “father’s emotional gene”.
The Liberals were anxious to hit all the notes at Sunday’s event, seeking to portray Dutton as both hard and soft, hopeful and pessimistic, forward-looking and nostalgic.
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Western Sydney spokesperson Melissa McIntosh, who spoke first at the event, said a future prime minister Dutton would be “laser focused on the good”, before Dutton himself took the stage with a 50-minute speech characterised by relentless negativity.
“In the last three years, the Albanese government’s weak leadership and their decisions have compromised community safety and national security — crime is a huge issue in many parts of our country, and Anthony Albanese has allowed crime gangs to run riot in many communities … we will crush the outlaw motorcycle gangs who are peddling drugs to our children, who are then breaking into your home to feed their habits,” Dutton said in his speech.
Dutton’s background as a police officer was mentioned no less than four times. According to McIntosh, Dutton saw “all the bad” in his time on the force, and it “toughened Peter on the outside”.
“But on the inside, it has made him care deeply, about not letting children, women and Australian families down,” she said.
Later, a video was played on the big screen behind the stage of Dutton receiving some video messages from his wife, three children, and former prime minister John Howard.
Dutton was seen smiling as his family members teased him for his hairline and his failed football kick that injured a cameraman on the campaign trail.
“I got my father’s emotional gene, unfortunately. I think I’ve worked pretty hard over the years to hide it — it doesn’t really get rewarded in our business, so, better off not to show the vulnerabilities,” Dutton said in the video.
At one point, the blue background on the big screen turned green as Nationals leader David Littleproud took the stage.
Littleproud praised Dutton as a “man” whom he could “trust”.
“I trust Peter Dutton with every fiber of my being. I would insult Peter Dutton if I asked him to put in writing our agreements, because Peter and I look each other in the eye, we shake each other hand, and we know that I can trust him,” Littleproud said, stumbling on his words.
“You need a man that has the courage not to kick the nation’s problems down the road, but face up to them … that’s the courage I see in Peter Dutton.”
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Littleproud also called Dutton “…the best Liberal leader I have ever worked with, because I trust Peter Dutton implicitly. He’s a man of honor, he is a man of conviction.”
One wonders whether Scott Morrison, the former Liberal leader, would think that was a veiled dig aimed at him. Morrison was in the room, as were fellow former Liberal prime ministers Howard and Tony Abbott.
Unlike the others, Morrison lingered on the floor of the event hall afterwards, chit-chatting with reporters from The Australian and other outlets about golf and his recent trip to the US.
But the so-called “Trump whisperer”, whose many post-politics jobs include roles at US think tanks, was not keen to talk about the president when Crikey approached him.
“I’m not getting into all of that,” Morrison said when asked what advice he would give to Dutton on handling Trump, if elected.
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