Peter Dutton

Defence Minister Peter Dutton is skilled at creating an attention-grabbing media line but is “really bad” at preparing Australia for war, Labor Senator ...

“They’ve made all sorts of promises, all sorts of statements, they like to ramp up their language, but when you actually look at what they’ve done they’ve made the country less safe on their watch – through their poor management of our relationship with Pacific nations and by failing to deliver the defence capability that our country needs.” “The only way that you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and to be strong as a country, not to cower, not to be on bended knee and be weak, that’s the reality,” Mr Dutton told Channel Nine’s Today Show. “Anyone can get out there and make comments like Peter Dutton has done, but what he and every other defence minister in this government has shown is that they are completely not up to the task of actually preparing Australia for war and making sure our defence capability is what it should be,” he said.

Speaking about the threat of China in the Pacific and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Defence Minister Peter Dutton said people like Hitler aren't “consigned ...

“We have to be realistic that people like Hitler and others aren’t just a figment of our imagination or that they’re consigned to history. “We’re in a period very similar to the 1930s now, and I think there were a lot of people in the 1930s who wish they had spoken up much earlier into the decade. Not to cower, not to be on bended knee and be weak. That’s happening in the year 2022.” I think that’s the sobering reality of where we are, it is the sobering reality of the intelligence we receive.” “The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war, and be strong as a country.

A senior politician has stepped up his rhetoric after the Prime Minister issued a blunt warning about the growing threat of China and Russia.

“That we find ourselves asking these questions, in this moment, says everything about the failure of Scott Morrison in his managing of the relationships in the Pacific, and specifically Scott Morrison’s failure to manage the relationship with the Solomon Islands.” “We’re in a period very similar to the 1930s now and I think there were a lot of people in the 1930s who wish they had spoken up much earlier into the decade,” he said. He warned China was on “on a very deliberate course” and the only way to “preserve peace is to prepare for war and be strong as a country”.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles says Coalition 'is a government which beats its chest' but does not deliver.

“The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and be strong as a country. “This is a government which repeatedly fails as it has in its management of relationships in the Pacific, as it has in terms of the [sale of the] Darwin port.” “We have to be realistic that people like Hitler and others aren’t just a figment of our imagination or that they’re consigned to history. The prime minister told the Anzac Day service in Darwin that an “arc of autocracy” is challenging the international rules-based order, citing war in Europe and “coercion” in the Indo-Pacific region. Dutton told Channel Nine’s Today the comments reflect “the reality of our time”, and the past sacrifices of the Anzacs in conflicts will not “see us through to eternity without conflict in our region”. The defence minister made the comments on Anzac Day morning, warning that “people like Hitler” are not “consigned to history” and Australia must do more to stand up to China’s aggression in the region.

The prevailing wisdom, reinforced on Anzac Day, is that the defence forces should be used as the last...

Doug Dingwall is The Canberra Times' Public Service Editor. He writes about government and federal politics, and edits The Public Sector Informant. He has an interest in integrity and industrial relations. Previously he worked at The Examiner in Launceston, where he won a Tasmanian Human Rights Award in 2016 for his reporting. Doug Dingwall is The Canberra Times' Public Service Editor. He writes about government and federal politics, and edits The Public Sector Informant. He has an interest in integrity and industrial relations.

A senior politician has stepped up his rhetoric after the Prime Minister issued a blunt warning about the growing threat of China and Russia.

“That we find ourselves asking these questions, in this moment, says everything about the failure of Scott Morrison in his managing of the relationships in the Pacific, and specifically Scott Morrison’s failure to manage the relationship with the Solomon Islands.” “We are at a moment in our history where our strategic circumstances are as complex as many points since the end of the Second World War,” he said. “We’re in a period very similar to the 1930s now and I think there were a lot of people in the 1930s who wish they had spoken up much earlier into the decade,” he said.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has declared Australia must prepare for war as the threat of China and conflict...

Doug Dingwall is The Canberra Times' Public Service Editor. He writes about government and federal politics, and edits The Public Sector Informant. He has an interest in integrity and industrial relations. Doug Dingwall is The Canberra Times' Public Service Editor. He writes about government and federal politics, and edits The Public Sector Informant. He has an interest in integrity and industrial relations. Previously he worked at The Examiner in Launceston, where he won a Tasmanian Human Rights Award in 2016 for his reporting.

The prevailing wisdom, reinforced on Anzac Day, is that the defence forces should be used as the last resort for a nation protecting itself.

But coupled with Mr Dutton's rhetoric, they took on a different and perhaps uninvited meaning, along with Mr Morrison's statement a day earlier that Australia and the United States shared a red line when it came to a Chinese military base on Solomon Islands. As the saying goes, speak quietly, and carry a big stick. Rather than reflect on the horrors and futility of war, as Australians have been urged for countless Anzac Days past, Mr Dutton drew a different lesson. "That's the reality." If anything, it would have been strange if Mr Morrison didn't show up somewhere to place bets and toss coins in a local venue. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's diary of events on Monday was predictable for an incumbent on Anzac Day, election or not.