Maybe his modest defamation win against activist Shane Bazzi has contributed to his sense of grandiose impunity, but is it just us or is former immigration minister Peter Dutton getting a bit weird and bellicose since donning the khaki and binoculars at Defence? Well, even more weird and bellicose.
Here he is, helpfully weighing in to the mounting crisis at the Ukraine border, where more than 100,000 Russian troops have massed ahead of what some people believe will be a full-scale invasion:
“.. [Russian President Vladimir Putin] sees no doubt that Ukraine is part of the Russia that he wants to bequeath to his successor at some point,” Dutton told 2GB.
“He’s 69 years of age, and these sort of dictators, who are getting older and want to leave their legacy, start to become more and more irrational.”
I mean, it’s true, but you’re not supposed to say it.
This is just the latest in a series of statements that might worry us if we weren’t so distracted by the government’s catastrophic handling of the pandemic.
China
Dutton’s primary target has been, predictably, China, as it has been for all the more hawkish elements of Australian foreign policy. In a National Press Club address in November, he spoke of the “dark clouds” building in the “deteriorating” region, and appeared to compare China with the Axis powers in the lead up to World War II:
Every major city in Australia, including Hobart, is within range of China’s missiles … Both the prime minister and I have spoken about how the times in which we live have echoes of the 1930s. The world would be foolish to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s.
Of course this followed the AUKUS submarine deal, a submarine deal with the US and UK which was explicitly about building a bulwark between ourselves and China (mere decades from now) and picking sides in what Professor Hugh White called “a new cold war in Asia”. This followed Dutton’s early contention that conflict with China over Taiwan “should not be discounted”.
Apart from anything else, as we pointed out at the time, the whole “China is a bit like Nazi Germany” was a funny thing to say given Dutton was a senior member of the governments that welcomed Xi Jinping to Canberra, signed a major trade deal with China, and sought to enforce an extradition treaty between the two countries.
The great de-wokening
Of course Dutton was very clear about his priorities at Defence from the outset. One of his first acts as defence minister was to take aim at the “morale slump” in the armed forces.
The horrifying allegations of the Brereton report concerning alleged war crimes in Afghanistan had soldiers feeling a bit down, and Dutton wanted to remind them the government “has their back”. This was bound up in concerns from the Liberal Party right that the army had become too “woke”. The ban on death symbols, the stripping of meritorious unit citations from special forces and, somehow related, the bizarre episode in which a twerking dance troupe performed at the dedication of a warship was taken as further proof.
On cue, Dutton clamped down on almost anything that pursued a “woke agenda”, like changing language protocols and morning teas for causes like the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia.
“Defence represents the people of Australia and must at all times be focused on our primary mission to protect Australia’s national security interests,” he said at the time. “We must not be putting effort into matters that distract from this.
“To meet these important aims, changing language protocols and those events such as morning teas where personnel are encouraged to wear particular clothes in celebration … are not required and should cease.”
Gawd help up, could we ever in our wildest dreams concoct a more mediocre, intellectually challenged bunch of ministerial misfits. Dutton amd Morrison have jointly destroyed our Chinese markets based on this humbug of Chinese expansion. As one exasperated wine exporter said, “Why did Australia have to take the lead on this?”. I understand our competitors in supplying China, (yes, The US included), have happily filled the gaps left by our departure. Hey Pete, you mean all this because the Chinese are doing little more than the US has done in plain sight for decades, incl minority persecution, and military expansion. Your insight is very limited, self evident, and you have no business being in the role you occupy.
Could not have put it better myself.
I’m sure Dutton thinks that as defence minister making himself look macho wil help the coalitions cances at the election – and if he can organise a khaki eectioon so much the better. But these muppets have no vision, forethought, ability to think about consequences. As you say why do we have to be the little flea that irritates the Chinese. Stupid Marise P demanding Chinese look into covid origins when if they had waited a week the big boys in the EU and USA would have asked for it anyway. Let the grown-ups fight the global battles – we need nothing to do with them!
Dutton told 2GB, “[Putin]’s 69 years of age, and these sort of dictators, who are getting older and want to leave their legacy, start to become more and more irrational.”
And Dutton is 51 years of age. But I suppose however old you are, you are getting older, and Dutton’s conduct suggest he’s starting his own run at irrationality early, good practice for when he takes over the whole country. Possibly of course Dutton meant to say “getting old”, which would have been less of a truism.
Good point rat, irrational thought processes within this Government and it’s hypocrisy at every turn just proves how bad it is within this ship of fools.
It seems to me that this bloke would see as at War before he would see the liberals where they belong – gone! Incidentally, I can recall no other Defence Minister who has usurped the role of Foreign Minister as Dutton has
The Dut gets a bit carried away. He should realise that his new carpark at Ferney Grove Railway Station will be a military target as it is so close to his electoral office. If he was smarter he would extend the rail line into the mountain in an underground tunnel and open up more areas to the north of Brisbane. In the event of conflict it could be a bomb shelter. – a car park is of no use.
Just not thinking straight.
Does anything else in the world matter : when there’s an election to be fought on the home front, with words as bullets?
The absolute last thing this mob seems prepared to suffer, is someone else “going over the(ir) books” – and they’re acting like they’re more than prepared to do anything to prevent that.