Peter Dutton becomes Liberal leader as the party takes its first steps forward out of government. So, who is the new Opposition Leader?
is still used by Labor to accuse the Coalition of damaging relationships in the region. But colleague Simon Birmingham, now the most senior moderate figure within the Liberal Party, has said Mr Dutton's character is different to how it is sometimes perceived.
I have worked closely with Peter for a number of years and whilst we haven't always agreed, I suspect it would be a surprise to many that we have agreed more often than people might expect," Mr Birmingham said on Sunday.In the last government, he helped to secure the , the most significant development in Australia's national security since the post-World War II treaty with the United States and New Zealand. He also oversaw the Australian withdrawal from Afghanistan and was the Morrison government's most prominentDutton's winding pathway to the top The new Liberal leader was first a minister under John Howard, serving as workforce participation minister, assistant treasurer and minister for revenue. He entered cabinet under Tony Abbott as sport and health minister, introducing then-controversial reforms to Medicare to establish co-payments for GP visits that were ultimately abandoned, as well as setting up a $20-billion fund for medical research. But it was his appointment to the immigration ministry and later a specially created super portfolio, home affairs minister, that the now-leader first became a serious contender for the top job. During that time, Mr Dutton was responsible for, in his words, "stopping the boats, getting every child out of detention, closing the Manus Regional Processing Centre and overseeing the special intake of 12,000 refugees from the Syria and Iraq conflicts". Mr Dutton was repeatedly thrown up as an alternative leader during the prime ministership of Malcolm Turnbull, and after months of instability in 2018, Mr Dutton attempted to wrest the leadership from Mr Turnbull to become prime minister.Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison shake hands at the Liberal Party election campaign launch. Now, Mr Dutton has claimed the title, he takes over a Liberal Party that is finding its feet out of government for the first time in almost a decade. His deputy, the newly appointed Sussan Ley, is unaligned with the party's moderate or conservative wings. Party members strongly felt it needed a woman as deputy leader after it was punished in the election for a perceived ignorance of women and issues of safety and equality that dominated Mr Morrison's term in government. The Liberal Party, often described as a "broad church" of progressive and conservative political views, is smarting from a result that decimated its moderate ranks and almost locked it out of the country's urban centres. Mr Dutton's first challenge will be to unite his wounded moderate flank with a conservative flank that is pushing for the party to head further right and reclaim its base.
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