No sugar-coating Dutton's night of devastation as Liberal Party left stunned
Peter Dutton's time in public life has come to a shuddering halt.
What atmosphere there was at the start of the night had evaporated by 9pm as seat after seat fell. There wasn’t much atmosphere to begin with.
Sipping champagne in Brisbane’s W Hotel, Liberal loyalists were watching a bloodbath unfold on the screens. If they thought the party had hit the floor under Scott Morrison in 2022, it was clear that Peter Dutton had found a basement underneath.
Dutton was bullish on Saturday morning, declaring the Coalition’s seat-by-seat polling showed he was within reach of victory.
But there could be no pretence when he took the stage, ashen-faced, to dutiful but muted applause that evening. He was about to deliver a speech no opposition leader had ever had to before, conceding both the election and his own seat.
