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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd

FOI documents show Peter Dutton’s ‘captain’s call’ to make senior Liberal head of defence thinktank

Peter Dutton Justin Bassi ASPI Australian Strategic Policy Institute Guardian Australia Marise Payne Scott Morrison Coalition Department of Defence Labor
Peter Dutton
A ‘captain’s call’ by then defence minister Peter Dutton selected senior Liberal Justin Bassi for the head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

New documents show how the former defence minister Peter Dutton’s “captain’s call” delivered a senior Coalition adviser the top job at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Just before the May election was called, Dutton announced that Justin Bassi – then chief of staff to then foreign affairs minister Marise Payne – would be Aspi’s new executive director.

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