Who will be the next leader of the Liberal Party?
Malcolm Turnbull isn’t going to last much longer as either Liberal Leader or Prime Minister. Many in the media have already been considering who is the next viable leader of the Liberal Party. One name is often considered is Immigration and soon to be Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.
Dutton is something different. Peter Dutton is one of the few Liberal party members who wasn’t a lawyer before he was elected to parliament. Mr. Dutton was a Police officer for 9 years, working with the Sex Offenders Squad and the Drug Squad and then he went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Business He left the police in 1999 to manage his business interests full time.
He is an astute, hard-working and principled man. He has many of the ‘self-made’ characteristics, girt and sheer determination that made John Howard and Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen great leaders. Prior to being elected to Parliament, Mr. Dutton owned businesses and employed over 40 staff. He started his working life at 12 – delivering newspapers, mowing lawns and working after school as a butcher’s boy – a job he continued until starting university. He purchased his first property at 18.
Many in the conservative movement across Australia see him as our ‘next Howard’. Peter Dutton has been one of Australia’s finest immigration Ministers, he has kept the boats out (stopping children drowning at sea as I call it) and he also came up with a solution to the detention camps in Nauru, and Manus Island, working out a deal with President Trump, and President Obama to send some of them over to the USA.
Mr. Dutton is also brave enough to call a spade, a spade when talking about the risk of immigration, Dutton said “The reality is Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in the 1970s and we’re seeing that today…. We need to be honest in having that discussion. There was a mistake made’’. Dutton’s straight talking, and realisation of previous mistakes made, indicates that he would learn from such mistakes of the past, and not let those be the mistakes of the future. This is a great trait of a leader.
Mr. Dutton can also make the tough, but fair calls. Mr. Dutton cut off income and accommodation support to 100 asylum seekers who came here to ‘seek medical treatment’ that parked themselves in Australia. After facing severe media scrutiny for the action, he went on 2GB with Alan Jones and said ‘“The medical assistance has been provided and there is no need for them to remain in Australia and yet through these legal moves, they’ve found themselves a way [to remain]”. He told firm, and didn’t capitulate to the left-wing media establishment.
Mr. Dutton was re-elected with an increased majority in 2004 and appointed Minister for Workforce Participation, with responsibility for the Job Network, Disability Employment Services, Work for the Dole and improving transition to work opportunities for all unemployed Australians.
At the time of his appointment Mr. Dutton was one of the youngest Minister’s since Federation.
In January 2006 Mr. Dutton was promoted to Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer. He worked closely with Peter Costello in areas including budget preparation, taxation, superannuation, prudential regulation, and competition and consumer policy.
On the 18th of September 2013, Mr. Dutton was sworn in as the Minister for Health and Minister for Sport in the newly elected Abbott Government. One of his few ‘failures’ was trying to create a $7 Medicare co-payment to attempt to plug in massive holes in our budget.
On the 21st of December 2014, it was announced that he would be appointed as the new Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. He was sworn in on the 23rd of December 2014.
Dutton has been tough on terrorism, cancelling the passports of dual citizens who travel to fight with terror groups in the Middle East, thus keeping us safe during times of immense global turmoil. In his role as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, he has lead his department with complete professional and with selfless servitude. His success in this role has proven him to be a worthy leadership contender, and Prime Minister.
Because of Dutton’s great work in cabinet, and his ‘pro-family’ stance in the culture war, I see Mr. Dutton as the man to lead our nation and the Liberal Party. I am sick of Turnbull’s false hope and broken promises, and I think It’s time to unleash Mr. Dutton’s true potential and elevate him to the position of Prime Minister
Many people look at Peter Dutton in the same light as they did John Howard before he took over the leadership as a bit ‘dull’ or not very charismatic. But, like Howard, Dutton may have the public perception of not being camera friendly, or not charismatic enough, but at the end of the day charisma doesn’t get the job done, hard work and grit does.
Grit made sure one of the United States most popular, and effective leaders, presided over vast economic growth during the roaring 20’s , Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the USA prescribed to the Jeffersonian philosophy of ‘He who governs least, governs best’.
Coolidge was described as ‘Cool Cal’ for his cold nature, and he was also described as ‘Silent Cal’, but he got the job done, and he got the job done well.
Dutton is a ‘Cool Cal’, he is the man we need to quietly put our affairs in order. Dutton is our ‘Cool Cal’ a man who is not screaming jobs and growth, but a man who actually delivered it during the Costello Era as Assistant Treasurer.
Dutton may not be charismatic, but he is as tough as nails, and as reliable as a Holden Commodore.
Dutton is our next ‘Howard’ and he is the key to ‘Making Australia Great Again’.
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