Former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has given a brief press conference in Canberra after his failed attempt to topple Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning, thanking ministerial supporters, asserting his commitment to the government, and refusing to rule out his potential to take another stab at the top job.
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“I believe I had the best prospect of leading the Liberal Party to success at the next election,” Dutton told reporters of his decision to challenge Turnbull for the leadership.
“That was not to be today and I understand and I respect the outcome, and I fully support the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.”
Note the “today” in that sentence. Portentous.
Dutton spent the rest of his short appearance before the media running through his parliamentary history, including details about his tenure as Minister for Home Affairs. So, he wheeled out his child-imprisoning credentials, basically.
He also took a crack at Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, repeatedly saying that a Labor government would simply be the worst goddamn thing to befall this nation.
Instead of directly targeting Turnbull, Dutton said “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.”
For now, Dutton has resigned from his Cabinet role, and will likely linger around parliament with the likes of Tony Abbott. Unless he accepts the reported offer to return to the fold, that is.
