"It wasn't true that Peter [Dutton] was a stalking horse for me," says Tony Abbott. Credit:Artwork: Dionne Gain

Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When Malcolm Turnbull told Tony Abbott that there was no way he would ever allow him into his cabinet, it didn't go down well. "Fair enough," replied Abbott in their meeting in the Australian Club in Sydney after the 2016 election, specially brokered by a mutual friend to try to find a peace settlement between them. "You do your thing and I'll do mine," said Abbott. "And you have a lot more to lose than I do." He set about destroying the leader of his party. Then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull on September 14, 2015. Turnbull defeated Abbott in the leadership ballot that night. Credit:Andrew Meares The prime minister had again tried to interest him in a diplomatic posting, but there was only one job Abbott would accept. "I put Malcolm in my cabinet, whatever my judgement about him as an individual, because he was a sufficiently senior politician," Abbott says. "But Malcolm never reciprocated – that was his fundamental mistake. "The first duty of a party leader is to keep his party together. But you can't keep your party together if you appear to have a personal grudge against some of your most senior members. You don't want a cabinet full of sycophants."


Yet while Abbott's project of vengeance dominated the public debate over the prime ministership for almost the entirety of Turnbull's three years, inside the government it was a different story. Abbott's wrecking tactics cost him the respect and support of an ever-growing number of his colleagues. His visions of a glorious return to the prime ministership faded. This didn't deter him. He only ever thought of a return to the leadership as a bonus. More important than recovering the prime ministership for himself was to wrench it away from Turnbull. And as he threw himself noisily into the effort, a new challenger quietly built his strength. For more than two years Peter Dutton was a close and loyal ally of prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen At his desk as immigration minister, Peter Dutton was feeling the constraints of his position. Quite literally. Dutton prized the handsome, antique desk that he'd found – he believed it had once been John Howard's. But Dutton is a big man and the desk was small. To sit at it properly, he needed to balance it on his knees. Bearing Howard's mantle was no light affair, it appeared. Facing him on the wall opposite his desk was an enormous map of Australia and the world to its near north. This was a useful accessory for a minister anxious to track approaching boatloads of asylum seekers.


But with the restraining desk and the big, beckoning world beyond, surely it could be only a matter of time before Dutton dreamed of bigger things. And so it was. For more than two years he was a close and loyal ally of Turnbull's. When Brisbane-based Dutton, his wife Kirilly, and their young boys visited Sydney during summer, Turnbull would invite the family to visit his harbourside home. Dutton refused to help Abbott. He told his former leader that he shouldn't try to bring down Turnbull, that "Malcolm is very capable of blowing himself up without any help from you". The smarter game for Abbott would be to say nothing, allow Turnbull to fail on his own terms, and perhaps recover some of his previous support in the party. But Abbott was beyond logic, lost in a burning, visceral hatred of Turnbull. Malcolm is very capable of blowing himself up without any help from you. Peter Dutton to Tony Abbott Some outside observers claimed to be certain that Dutton was just a stalking horse for Abbott the whole time, one conservative aiding another against a progressive prime minister. The truth was more interesting. Soon after Abbott launched his full fury on the prime minister in the aftermath of the 2016 election, Dutton told him over dinner that he would not help him destabilise Turnbull, that it was Dutton's best and wisest course to try for as long as possible to make the Turnbull government successful.


"It wasn't true that Peter was a stalking horse for me," says Abbott. "He's a friend of mine, I assume he always will be. He was an effective minister in my government and in Turnbull's. I would talk to Dutts every month or two and we'd chat about things but, to his great credit, he was a very loyal member of the Turnbull government." In fact, Dutton had concluded that Abbott's time had come and gone. It was now his opportunity to supplant Abbott and emerge as the leader of the conservatives and ultimately prime minister. He played a patient, careful game. He would build his strength until his time came. Loading Sometimes other conservatives would lose patience with Dutton and complain that he was too loyal, that he was propping up a leader they despised. Dutton's most dramatic rescue of Turnbull was over same-sex marriage. Turnbull was stuck. He'd pledged to implement the Abbott government policy of a plebiscite. But Labor and the crossbench combined to block parliamentary approval for any plebiscite. The public demanded action on same-sex marriage but Turnbull could do nothing now without provoking an immediate internal crisis and the end of his government – the conservatives in his party and the Nationals would revolt if he tried any course other than a plebiscite.


If Dutton had wanted to see an early collapse of Turnbull's prime ministership, he simply would have stayed mum. Instead, he helped solve the crisis of August 2017. He pushed for the lateral solution of a postal plebiscite, which could be held without need for parliamentary approval. He persuaded Turnbull of this course over a couple of dinners at the Lodge and then advocated it forcefully within the government. It delivered Turnbull victory from the jaws of defeat on one of the most fraught issues of the time. Dutton and the conservative West Australian senator Mathias Cormann emerged as an unlikely praetorian guard for Turnbull, protecting a progressive prime minister from attack from his right flank. One of the younger conservative Liberals explained that "most of us didn't have the standing to pick up the phone and blast Turnbull directly and we wanted Peter and Mathias to do it for us, but instead they'd defend him. It was very irritating for us." Peter Dutton and Mathias Cormann in December 2017. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The pair gave Turnbull honest advice and helped him solve political problems. Like a joining of the Terminator and the Enforcer, Cormann and Dutton developed the habit of going for early walks around Canberra to discuss their work. Cormann was especially deft at negotiating government legislation through a prickly Senate. Turnbull appreciated and admired Cormann's judgement and skill. The prime minister pushed him forward for media appearances as one of the government's most reliable spokespeople. Any reservations about his intimidating Belgian accent were trumped by his ability to stay calm and "on message".

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