Peter Dutton defended his decision to attend a luxury fundraising event in Sydney as Cyclone Alfred approached Queensland last week, claiming those criticizing his decision were seeking a “political advantage.”
The opposition leader’s interview on Sky News on Monday morning comes after Labour Queensland Senator Murray Watt claimed Dutton was not “selling his voters” among Dixon voters.
Last Wednesday, the Australian Financial Review reported that Dutton described the upcoming whirlwind as a “very serious” situation in Brisbane on Tuesday morning, before flying to Sydney the same day at the Harborside Home fundraising event at Merrivale hotel entrepreneur Justin Hemmes.
The Guardian Australia reported on Thursday that other fundraising events in Melbourne said Dutton would attend last week, including lunches hosted by Macquarie Bank’s headquarters and the pharmaceutical association, canceled at the last minute on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Dutton, the day after attending the Hemmes event, told Sky News: “I think it’s really an opportunity for the Prime Minister to take power rather than a campaign.”
Dutton made his first comment in a fundraising controversy on Monday, saying he had returned home before the hurricane hit and he had several other visits in Sydney, including the Hemmes event.
“I went home on my first flight Wednesday morning, back to my voters, and then [cyclone] Apparently it hadn’t started until then, and it didn’t start until Friday. ” Dutton said.
To be frank, “I think people who use it for political superiority during natural disasters have a worse response to them than I do.”
Dutton said the Hems event “is not a party, but a fundraising dinner. Currently, I am working around the country.”
“I received a briefing in the morning and came down – I made a diary commitment, including lunch with the Archbishop and many meetings in Sydney.”
The AFR also reported that Dutton met with the Greek Orthodox Bishop on Tuesday.
Dutton held a press conference on Sunday but was not questioned about the fundraising event. Before that, his last media appearance was in a 2GB radio interview Thursday morning, where he wasn’t asked.
The Daily Telegraph reported that on Sunday, the Hems fundraiser raised $500,000, “a price of $25,000 and $25,000, and “nearly 20’20” invite guests to spend hours with the Freedom Leader.”
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Queensland Labor’s senior front desk Watt posted a screenshot of the article on Sunday’s X and wrote: “We now know how much Peter Dutton has raised for liberal wallets, and his community is packing sandbags. Dutton sold out his constituents at Justin Hemmes’ Sydney Hauburg mansion for $500,000.”
Dutton told the sky on Monday that his family was “trapped at home” due to the flooding from Alfred.
“Luckily, our house is good, but the water flows on our front door, so that’s the reality.”
“It fell all night. The night before, we were awake all night, waiting for a tree to land in the house because the wind was amazing and there was a lot of rain at that time.”
In the interview, so far, during the interview with the Liberal Party’s policy announcement agenda, Dutton said his team will announce the election date that expires on May 17 closer to the election date.
“All of these critics, most of them from Labor, are demanding that our policies be issued now, and I think that full understanding of people keep moving forward,” he said.
“So we will announce that our policies are closer to the campaign, but it will be entirely focused on helping people recover from three years to our country, especially three years in the economy, but also from a security perspective, we will release these policies, and as we see, we think they will be well received by the public.”
