Dutton makeover

PETER DUTTON: … showing a softer side or showing a different side to your character. And all I would say is I’m not going to change but I want people to see the entire person that I am. I want people to reserve and make their own judgments when they meet me. 

– ABC News Channel, 30 May, 2022

Hello, I’m Paul Barry, welcome to Media Watch.

And welcome to the real Peter Dutton — the conservative head-kicker and new opposition leader — who was very busy last week, ahead of his promotion, getting everyone to tell us what a lovely guy he is:

My Peter’s a big softy 

– The Courier-Mail, 26 May, 2022

Dutton’s softer run 

– Herald Sun, 26 May, 2022

Dutton 2.0: I’ll be a gentler and caring me

– The Australian, 26 May, 2022

The Dutton image makeover, which began last Thursday, came with smiling pictures of Peter and his family, as they just happened to be strolling in a Brisbane park.

And it carried one key message for the media:

Mr Dutton said he would reveal a gentler side of his character …

– The Australian, 26 May, 2022

Yes, the former defence, home affairs and immigration minister — who kept asylum seekers at bay, told us to prepare for war and warned that African gangs were terrorising Melbourne — is actually a warm and cuddly character.

Just ask his wife, Kirilly:

“He has a great sense of humour – very dry and witty but he also has an incredible compassion, particularly when it comes to the protection of women and children.”

– The Australian, 26 May, 2022

And in case that were not enough, Kirilly told The Australian that Peter is also an:

… “amazing ­father and the kids adore him”.

– The Australian, 26 May, 2022

The Dutton PR blitz also got a big run in the Nine newspapers, with the same loving words from Kirilly:

“Peter is an amazing father and the kids adore him. He has a great sense of humour – very dry and witty but he also has an incredible compassion …”

– The Age, 26 May, 2022

And what would a makeover be without words from the man himself? Rehashed verbatim in many of the papers:

… “the Australian public can see the rest of my character. The side my family, friends and colleagues see …”

– The Age, 26 May, 2022

“… the Australian public can see the rest of my character — the side my family, friends and colleagues see …”

– Herald Sun, 26 May, 2022

So how did they end up with the same story? Answer: it was all in a press statement put out by Dutton the night before, with photographers told to be at a Brisbane park to get those happy snaps. 

So, what’s the chance that it will work?

Let’s just say it’s not the first time that Dutton has tried to airbrush his appearance. Nor is it the first time his wife has come to his aid. 

Back in 2019, when his tough immigration policy was making him enemies, she told us: 

MY PETE’S NO MONSTER 

– The Sunday Mail, 28 April, 2019

And in 2018, in challenging Turnbull for the leadership, he gathered the press pack to say:

PETER DUTTON: It’s nice to be in front of the cameras where I can smile and maybe show a different side, not here talking to you about border protection matters, et cetera.

– ABC Camera Tape, 21 August, 2018

And after missing out on the top job and retiring briefly to the backbench, he told Sky’s Laura Jayes that being out of the front line would allow him to show more of his lighter side:

PETER DUTTON: I think I’ve, you know, got a self-deprecating sense of humour and, you know, I like a drink like anybody else and it’s an opportunity for me to, I think now, talk a bit more about the other side that the public may not know … 

– Sky News Australia, 21 August, 2018

But here we are, four years later, and his image problem clearly remains. 

So much so that this was the cartoon in The Australian last week on the day of his latest Liberal rebrand:

We paid the price for Morrison’s unpopularity. What we need is someone cute and cuddly this time

You rang?

– The Australian, 26 May, 2022

And three days earlier, WA Labor Premier Mark McGowan had offered a free character assessment and sabotaged the makeover before it began, telling the media: 

MARK McGOWAN: He’s an extremist. And I don’t think he fits with modern Australia at all and he doesn’t seem to listen, he’s extremely conservative. I actually don’t think he’s that smart. 

– ABC Camera Tape, 23 May, 2022

And, because WA is a one-paper town with an all-powerful Premier, that message was duly repackaged for the front page of The West Australian.

Yes, that is Peter Dutton dressed up as Lord Voldemort. And Mark McGowan as Harry Potter, the famous wizard.

And soon Seven News was jumping in as well:

LORD VOLDEMORT: Avada Kedavra! 

JENNIFER BECHWATI: Lord Voldemort, feared by children and, according to Labor’s Tanya Plibersek, bearing a striking resemblance to Liberal MP Peter Dutton. 

TANYA PLIBERSEK: I am saying he looks a bit like Voldemort. There will be a lot of children who’ve watched a lot of Harry Potter films who will be very frightened of what they’re seeing. 

– Seven News (Sydney), 26 May, 2022

In the new era of non-divisive politics, Prime Minister Albanese was quick to welcome Plibersek’s apology. 

So, what chance the reset will work? We asked three communications experts for their views.

Sue Cato, who has done work for the Liberals, said the change would need to be more than skin deep, telling Media Watch: 

The electorate has made it clear that it is actions, not happy chat photos, that form their views.

– Email, Sue Cato, Communications strategist and former Liberal adviser, 27 May, 2022

And Toby Ralph, who has worked on several Liberal campaigns, warned that if the repositioning is seen to be fake it will backfire: 

You can claim you’re a peacock not a chook all you want, but over time if you only claim but don’t demonstrate, you’ll end up being seen as a delusional chook, which is far worse.

– Email, Toby Ralph, Marketing consultant, 27 May, 2022

And Lenda Oshalem, a former Labor strategist in WA — where the Libs suffered a 10 per cent swing against them — told us Dutton has a big task ahead:

It will be difficult to unstick a record spanning two decades but after years of being portrayed as a hard right villain, [Dutton] really has no choice but to attempt to reset and negate his perceived weaknesses.

– Email, Lenda Oshalem, Former Labor strategist, 27 May, 2022

If Dutton is to win over voters with his new Mr Nice Guy, the Liberal leader may also need to build bridges with the media.  

In 2016, he had to apologise, after calling political reporter Samantha Maiden a “mad fucking witch” in a text and accidentally sending it to her.  

And in 2018, he told Ray Hadley: 

PETER DUTTON: … some of the crazy lefties at the ABC and on The Guardian, Huffington Post can, you know, express concern and draw mean cartoons about me and all the rest of it. They don’t realise how, you know, how completely dead they are to me.

– The Ray Hadley Morning Show, 2GB, 22 March, 2018

And this year he called The Guardian and other media “trashy”. 

If Dutton wants to have a broad appeal to voters, he will surely need to get at least some of the trashy, left-wing, mad-witch media onside and not just rely on 2GB, Sky News and the News Corp mastheads. 

We’ll see how that goes.