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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Katharine Murphy

Peter Dutton, a ferocious partisan, is now trying to walk both sides of the street

Peter Dutton
Peter Dutton and his wife Kirilly in Brisbane. ‘Anything is possible. But this would be one hell of a shapeshift.’ Photograph: Glenn Hunt/AAP

Last time Peter Dutton wanted to be the leader of the Liberal party, he thought he might smile more.

After the Queenslander’s right faction moved against Malcolm Turnbull in August 2018, ending a months-long proxy war for the prime ministership between himself and Scott Morrison, Dutton thought he’d have liked to bring asylum seekers back from offshore detention “on a charter flight overnight” if he wasn’t constrained by the hardman rules of his portfolio.

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