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Former United States ambassador Joe Hockey is pushing former opposition leader Peter Dutton to be Australia’s next top diplomat in Washington DC, as a Labor powerbroker withdraws from the contest.
Former communications minister Stephen Conroy, a powerful figure within the Victorian Labor right, had been discussed as a possible successor to Kevin Rudd but ruled himself out of contention on Wednesday.
Former opposition leader Peter Dutton has been suggested as a possible ambassador to the United States.Credit: AP
Hockey, who served as Australia’s US ambassador from 2016 to 2020, said it would be a “no-brainer” for Albanese to appoint Dutton, the man he defeated in last year’s federal election, to the prestigious posting.
“The Australian people would see it as smart and magnanimous,” Hockey, a former treasurer, told this masthead.
The case for Dutton is that, as a well-known conservative warrior, he would be a good cultural fit with the populist Trump administration.
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While Albanese and Dutton get along well personally despite their political differences, it would still be remarkable for him to appoint his former chief political opponent to the role.
There would also be questions about how well Dutton could prosecute Labor’s centre-left agenda, and his choice would prove contentious with the Labor base.
In recent years, governments have appointed former senior politicians from their side of politics to the diplomatic postings in Washington and London, a trend Albanese continued by appointing former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in November.
Hockey, who played golf several times with Trump when he served as ambassador, posted on social media earlier that it would be a “good idea” to appoint Dutton to the role and would be in the national interest.
“President Trump has nearly three years to go,” he said in response to a post on X by Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons.
Joe Hockey spent time in close quarters with President Trump playing golf.
Dutton declined to comment when approached by this masthead, but supporters of the former Liberal leader said he would likely be open to considering the role if offered it.
It is an advantage that Dutton does not have any lobbying clients, his supporters have argued. He also worked with key Trump personnel when he was Australia’s home affairs minister during Trump’s first term, including meeting Trump’s daughter Ivanka about child exploitation laws, and has significant defence experience as a former defence minister.
Dutton, who has not yet embarked on a post-politics career, recently travelled to the US for a holiday with his wife Kirilly, where he attended a Christmas party for Hockey’s lobbying outfit Bondi Partners.
Former Labor defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon, who now runs a lobbying firm with major defence companies as clients, remains a possible choice after Conroy told Sky News he was not a candidate for the role.
One political insider described Fitzgibbon as the “most Republican Labor member going around”, indicating he would be a good cultural fit for the Trump administration.
Rudd announced on Tuesday that he would be stepping down in March from his posting a year ahead of schedule, setting off a flurry of speculation about who would replace him.
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