Labor says Peter Dutton taking reins of Liberal Party shows Coalition ‘learned absolutely nothing’ from federal election – ABC News

Senior Labor ministers say Peter Dutton becoming Opposition Leader would show the Coalition has not listened to the message sent by voters at the election.

Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews saidPeter Dutton wouldbe the next leader of the Liberal Party, confirming speculation he would run unopposed for the position.

Ms Andrews said Mr Dutton had widespread support in the party and it was a "very fair and very accurate assessment" that he would become the next leader.

"He will be standing, unopposed, to take on the leadership and that means there's no-one else putting their hand up," she said.

"So it will be Peter.

"His deputy is almost certain to be Sussan Ley. Together, they will bring a team to appoint people into the shadow ministry and to reshape the party for the future."

Catch up on all the news about the 2022 Australian federal election from May 25 in our blog

Ms Ley who is not aligned with the conservative or moderate factions is canvassing support among her colleagues, but she is seen by some as being tainted by the Morrison era.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Mr Dutton becoming leader "would show [the Coalition] have learned absolutely nothing from the drubbing they got on Saturday".

"Peter Dutton has all of the same characteristics that people didn't like, that they saw in Scott Morrison," he said.

"I think we're up for a very divided period when it comes to the Liberals and the Nationals."

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said she did not think Mr Dutton would pose a threat to Labor getting re-elected in three years' time.

"It's sort of a last-man-standing situation isn't it?" she said.

"But also, if Peter Dutton is the answer, then it's not entirely clear that they heard the questions that were raised during this election campaign."

Ms Andrews said, given Mr Dutton was from Queensland, it was important the deputy be from another state,which had effectively ended any ambition she had to put her hand up to be deputy leader.Ms Ley is from New South Wales.

"While that is personally disappointing for me, the reality is that it was untenable to have a leader and a deputy leader from Queensland," she said.

"I understand that we need to rebuild across the country. Queensland took a hit, some of the other states took a significant hit and we need to go back to our values and look closely at this."

Before the election it was believed Josh Frydenberg or Mr Dutton would replace Scott Morrison in the event the Coalition lost, butwith Mr Frydenberg losing his seat to an independent, it left Mr Dutton as the frontrunner.

Ms Andrews said the new leadership team, as well as the rest of the party, needed to understand the election result and why the Coalition lost the votes of women.

"I don't think the answer is whether we tack right or tack left," she said.

"The reality is, that the people [voters] we lost in droves were predominantly women, educated women.

"They were women who were financially secure. They were unhappy with the Liberal Party and they chose to take their vote elsewhere."

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Posted8h ago8 hours agoTue 24 May 2022 at 11:35pm, updated1h ago1 hours agoWed 25 May 2022 at 6:53am

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Labor says Peter Dutton taking reins of Liberal Party shows Coalition 'learned absolutely nothing' from federal election - ABC News