Peter Dutton has a little fun with questions from the gallery gauging his response to last night’s episode of the ABC documentary Nemesis, in which he was described by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as a “thug”, but declined to be interviewed himself.
“You didn’t want to say the brand I presume,” Dutton said to Nine network’s Andrew Probyn, formerly the ABC’s political editor.
“But maybe it’s too soon?” Dutton then, with a smile said: “Well, look, I would say I would say this. I think I’ve demonstrated that I prove…” and then paused.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton responds to claims raised in ABC’s Nemesis program.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“No, I’ll put it more politely. I think I’ve I think I’ve proven in the past that I’m able to deal with one liar at a time.”
“We’re now dealing with a prime minister who has lied straight to the Australian public and I don’t think Australians will reward that.”
Asked if he was, indeed, a thug, Dutton replied: “Have you found me to be a thug?”
He said that “in this job”, he found it very difficult to go on the program but suggested that “maybe at some stage, I’ll give an account of the true character of some individuals. I, of course, champion every former leader of my great party, and I’ll continue to do that into the future as well.”