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Peter Dutton addresses media after failed leadership challenge – politics live
Peter Dutton won't rule out another challenge after failed leadership tilt – politics live
(35 minutes later)
Just back to the Senate temporarily. The debate on the government’s company tax cuts is still raging on. Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch is asking for a $500m cap that would prevent the tax cut going to big business.
Peter Dutton has not stopped texting since he took his seat.
That’s rejected out of hand by finance minister Mathias Cormann. Cormann said it would create a “perverse incentive” for businesses to keep their turnover below $500m in order to retain a lower tax rate.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
He also said it would permanently lock in a higher tax rate for such businesses, which any future government would struggle to change.
Can he confirm that only yesterday that he admitted that just one government member is enough to prevent the government introducing legislation into the Parliament, and can he confirmed to date that almost half of his Liberal colleagues voted against him remaining Australia’s Prime Minister, and does he recognise now that a clear majority of the members of Parliament behind him and in front of him no longer want him to be Prime Minister of Australia
“If we now locked in a $500m cap, we would never, ever revisit it. It would be absolutely impossible for us to say to the public ‘we want you to now just support a tax cut... just for businesses with a turnover of $500m’,” Cormann said.
Turnbull:
“The practical effect is that we would be locking in ... a 5% higher tax rate for businesses with a turnover of more than 500m.”
Labor is terrible.
So what just happened there?
Malcolm Turnbull is delivering the first Dixer, but no one is listening.
Well, we were introduced to the ‘real’ Peter Dutton, the one who can smile and joke and will happily pose for soft at-home features for the weekend papers, which I assume are being organised as we speak.
Except Michael McCormack. He is doing his very best impression of an interested deputy.
He ran us through his job credentials, giving us his LinkedIn profile on camera, before refusing to rule out challenging for the leadership again and making it absolutely clear he believes himself to be the best chance of defeating Malcolm Turnbull.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
If anything, future prospective employers, he probably cares too much. His biggest fault is he is a perfectionist.
Given that nearly half of his parliamentary colleagues, including several of his ministers, have today expressed a lack of confidence in the prime minister, how can the prime minister claim to have any mandate to govern this country?
If he had a glass of water, I am sure he would have overfilled it to demonstrate that he ‘always gives 110%’ to everything he does.
Turnbull:
In the real world, we call that a job application.
The mandate our government has came from the 2016 election, remember that? We won and you lost.
Just in case it is not clear, here is Peter Dutton not ruling out challenging for the fifth time in a row, coming just after he detailed his credentials:
There is more, but no one can hear it over the noise in the chamber, and it is a variation of the “Labor is terrible” speech we have heard for the past two years.
I believed I was the best person to lead the Liberal party to success at the next election. I respect the view of the party room and accept that outcome and I will do whatever I can now to make sure that we are in a position to win the next election and to make sure that Bill Shorten never becomes prime minister.
“Like a carcass swinging in the wind,” comes from the Labor benches as Turnbull finishes up.
BUT WILL HE CHALLENGE AGAIN?
“Malcolm Terminal” is another favourite from the Labor side of the House.
I am not going to provide critiques. The critique I am willing to provide is in relation to Bill Shorten because I think he is unfit to be prime minister of this country. I will make sure that I can do all I can to make certain that the Coalition wins the next election and that Bill Shorten never ever becomes prime minister.
Peter Dutton is in the chamber....he is sitting next to Julian Leeser.
Yeah, but will he challenge again? And would there be room for Tony Abbott on the frontbench?
The smiles are so sweet in this place right now, they could give you a toothache.
I have gone through what my job is now and that is to make sure that I can help the Coalition win the next election.
Jenny Macklin is back with a repeat of ‘WHO IS THE PRIME MINISTER’
But will he challenge again?
She is reminded by Tony Smith that her microphone works.
In terms of colleagues, I am grateful for the support they have provided and grateful for the encouragement they have given me. I am proud to put my hand up because I believed it was for the right purposes. As I said before, I harbour no animosity towards Malcolm Turnbull and have always had a productive working relationship with Malcolm Turnbull and I harbour no animosity towards the prime minister now. I want to make sure that I can support the party and make sure we win the next election.
Meanwhile, the frontbench made sure to walk in very, very slowly to ensure all the cameras caught their smiles.
Will he challenge again?
Most of Labor is in the chamber, while the government is still a little late.
It is not my job, but having lost the ballot today, my job is to respect the view of the party room, which I do. I have been in the parliament for 17 years and on the frontbench for 14. I will work every day to make sure that the Coalition is elected at the next election and I want to make sure that I support the prime minister and make sure that we support the policies of the government because ultimately I never ever want to see Bill Shorten as prime minister of this country because it would be a disaster. My job from here, my next step, my job from here, that is to make sure I can prosecute the sort of messages that I have just spoken about and that is what I am focused on
Which meant they just missed Julian Hill’s speech about Christopher Pyne’s disclosure of two tickets to Hamlet.
Where to now?
It was a rousing speech, including a reference to Greg Hunt as ‘Yorick’.
My position from here will be to do what I can as a backbencher to make sure that I support the government, to make sure we are elected and can keep Bill Shorten from the Lodge. I believe strongly that we can win the election if we get the policies and the message right about lowering electricity prices, about making sure that we can do more on infrastructure and in particular around the migration program, until the infrastructure can catch up in our capital cities.
Which is apt, given the Hamlet reference...but also a favourite nickname of Labor, because if you swap out Greg for Yorick you get...
We need to invest more in water to get farmers out of drought so they do not go through what they go through at the moment. We need to invest record amounts into health and education, aged care and other areas as well. I would like to contribute to public debates. I very much want to support the government and make sure the Coalition can win the next election.
We are in the downhill slide to question time – I’ll be heading into the chamber, so hit us up with your predictions in the meantime.
On why he put his hand up:
A VERY smily Peter Dutton is being used to promo Laura Jayes’s exclusive interview with him, just after 3pm on Sky News.
I made a decision not because I had any animosity towards Malcolm Turnbull. I made a decision to contest this ballot because I want to make sure we can keep Bill Shorten from ever being prime minister of this country. We have an incredible country and I served for17 years in the parliament. I served for almost 10 years as a police officer and for many of us in public life, we are determined to do the best thing we can for the country.
To be fair, we did know Peter Dutton could smile before this.
The problem is that Bill Shorten would be a disastrous prime minister of this country and I believe I had the best prospect of leading the Liberal party to success at the next election. That was not to be today and I understand and I respect the outcome and I fully support the prime minister and the cabinet.
I mean, there was even that time he cracked a joke about our Pacific neighbours about to go under water because of climate change.
Peter Dutton’s pitch:
Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop welcomed the “overwhelming” support of their colleagues. Peter Dutton just thanked those same people for their “considerable” support.
Firstly I would like to say thank you to my colleagues for their considerable support in the party room.
This is officially the Schrödinger cat of leadership challenges.
The conversations and words of encouragement that I have had with them in recent times, I am quite grateful for the support they have provided to me. I am also incredibly proud of the work that our men and women do day and night within the agencies of home affairs to keep Australians safe.
It is a serious business and when we have the threats that we do to a country like ours, you do need to make tough decisions and you have to make tough decisions that are ultimately are in the best interests of all Australians.
I did that for border protection, I did it in relation to the home affairs portfolio. I have been on the frontbench for 14 years and have served four Liberal leaders loyally, including Malcolm Turnbull. Over that period of time I have been assistant treasurer to Peter Costello and John Howard, with whom I work quite closely and to this day I consider a mentor. I have been the shadow minister for health and finance, I have been the health minister, the minister for sport and I have been the minister for workforce participation.
But I have most enjoy being minister for home affairs because of the people who work within those agencies and the incredibly important work that they support. I am proud of the fact that I got children out of detention. We have now moved almost 400 people off Manus Island and Nauru and that is a significant achievement. I worked closely with Malcolm Turnbull to make sure we can achieve that. We closed the detention centres and we kept the boats stopped and we know that threat still exists and like no other country in the world, we have been able to deal with our migration program.
