Dutton and Abbott talked about political comeback for former prime minister

2 months ago 6

Tony Abbott held talks with Peter Dutton about a shock political comeback, highlighting the former prime minister’s enduring appetite for public life as he warns the Liberal Party is in such a state of disarray it can no longer claim it is a party capable of winning elections.

Three sources in the party, not willing to go on the record because the talks were private, said Dutton was sceptical about reviving Abbott’s political career in the lead up to the 2025 federal election after he was pushed to preselect the former leader for a western Sydney seat such as Parramatta or McMahon.

Tony Abbott held talks with Peter Dutton about a shock political comeback ahead of the 2025 federal election.

In an interview with this masthead’s Inside Politics podcast, Abbott said the talk about a potential tilt at a lower house seat at the May election was exaggerated but revealed a conversation with Dutton after the death of veteran Jim Molan, which created a NSW Senate vacancy in 2023.

“I had one conversation with Peter Dutton after it was publicly suggested that I could possibly take Jim Molan’s Senate seat, and Peter basically said that it would make his life more complicated if that were to happen,” Abbott said.

“I completely accepted that. Now, different people said to me, ‘Oh, Tony, why don’t you have another go?’ and my view then and now is that I couldn’t or shouldn’t do anything that makes the life of the leader of the Liberal Party more complicated.”

Dutton confirmed the conversations, telling this masthead, “I love Tony, but I didn’t encourage any return.”

“I thought it was beneath him. He is a distinguished former prime minister, and why on Earth would he want to return to the arena? The answer is he has always seen politics as a calling and a vocation. He is one of the most misunderstood people in Australian politics,” Dutton said.

Some federal MPs are keen for Abbott, 68, to replace Liberal Party president John Olsen, 80, when Olsen leaves the role. But Abbott’s critics, particularly among moderate MPs, are frustrated with his continued involvement in internal party affairs.

Abbott, who served as prime minister between 2013-15 before leaving parliament after losing his seat of Warringah in 2019, played a role in the recruitment of Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the Nationals to run on a ticket with Liberal MP Angus Taylor in a leadership ballot won by Sussan Ley. Abbott also lobbied against supporters of Ley taking control of the NSW division of the party in June.

Abbott, who sits on the board of Fox Corporation, remains a fixture in conservative circles and is a sought-after leader to speak at conservative forums in Australia, Britain and the US.

The Liberal Party is in the grip of a generational crisis about its values and policy direction after successive election drubbings. It has led to largely aimless internal discussion about moderate MPs splitting from the party or conservative Liberals either defecting to the Nationals or One Nation, as Barnaby Joyce did last week, or creating a new populist-right party.

“We just don’t know what the future holds. And plainly, previous iterations of the Australian version of the centre-right have failed,” Abbott said.

“So we have no God-given right to continue to exist as the main centre-right party as Liberals. I mean, we have got to lift our game to better address the problems of the day and better appeal to the public. But I do think we have a better chance of doing that than any alternative that I can see.”

As One Nation surges to record highs in published polling off the back of heightened concern about migration, Abbott urged the party he once led to adopt the strategy employed by John Howard when Pauline Hanson burst onto the scene in the 1990s.

“I think the way to respond to Hanson today is not to be hyper critical of her, not even to be too focused on her,” he said, arguing the Queensland senator was not as potent a force as Nigel Farage’s Reform in the United Kingdom.

“When Pauline Hanson first came to prominence, saying that too many Australians were feeling like strangers in their own country, government was letting people down. Too much money was being wasted. Howard, very shrewdly, resisted the urge to personally attack Hanson. He would … politely disagree with her and did his best to address real grievances her supporters felt.”

“I’m not anti-Pauline Hanson. I think Pauline Hanson, in a second incarnation as a member of parliament, has been responsible. I think she’s often been quite constructive. But it’s one thing to mount a reasonable critique of where things are at; it’s another thing to be a credible alternative government.”