Peter Dutton to run unopposed for Liberal leadership

Former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews confirmed that nobody else will take on Dutton for the role of opposition leader.

“Peter has widespread support across the party,” Andrews told ABC News.

“He will be standing unopposed to take on the leadership and that means there’s no-one else putting their hand up.”

The Liberal Party has lost many senior members in the election, including the previous heir apparent to the leadership, Josh Frydenberg.

Dutton ran in a leadership spill in 2018 as a conservative challenger to then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

He lost on the second ballot after former prime minister Scott Morrison threw his hat into the ring.

Dutton was a policeman before entering Parliament in 2001 at the age of 30.

Since then he has represented the seat of Dickson in Brisbane’s north.

Since last year he has served as Minister for Defence, after stints in the home affairs, immigration and health portfolios.

Sussan Ley is considered the frontrunner for the role of deputy leader.

Ley was also elected in 2001 for the seat of Farrer, which stretches along the southern border of New South Wales from Albury out to the South Australian border.