In early 2002 the brand new MP for the Queensland seat of Dickson, an ex-police officer named Peter Dutton, rose in the House of Representatives to deliver his maiden speech. His preselection and subsequent election, he said, was “an opportunity to work with people for whom I have great respect and friendship.” Dutton gushed about how much he loved the people of Dickson, saying, “It is of course a great honour to represent those people in this great place.”

Dutton on with the job

Peter also reminisced about his road to Parliament House:

On 30 January last year I attended a Liberal Party preselection at the Samford CWA hall, at which I was selected as the Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Dickson. That night was obviously significant to me in many ways. On one hand, it brought to a climax a lifetime of hard work and a focus on achieving the goal of standing proudly in this place today.

“Brought to a climax a lifetime of hard work,” hey? No shit. Because when seven years later it looked like Peter Dutton, due to an unfortunate redistribution of his seat, might have to get off his arse and do some hard work to ensure the continued honour of representing those locals he so respects, he told them to get fucked.

The Liberal frontbencher, Peter Dutton, who took Dixon (sic) from Labor’s Cheryl Kernot in 2001, is now shopping around for another seat and is understood to be looking at Fairfax, held by the party whip Alex Somlyay.

After weeks of bitching and moaning, playing the sympathy card, and shopping around for seats, Dutton finally decided that he had more respect and friendship for the people of the safe Gold Coast seat of McPherson than he did for his “home” seat of Dickson. Unfortunately for Pete, the LNP preselectors of McPherson decided they had more respect and friendship for opponent Karen Andrews than for him.

But Dutton wasn’t happy with this democratic outcome because rising stars shouldn’t have to submit to democracy, either within their own Party structures or at elections. Peter Dutton had earned his place in parliament.

I’m 38 I’ve been in Government as a Minister in the Howard Government, I was the Assistant Treasurer to Peter Costello. I believe I’ve got a lot to offer to the future of our party and I believe that with the passion I bring to politics could continue to serve a useful purpose.

And he wouldn’t be lowering himself to have to, you know, campaign and stuff like that to secure it.

I won’t be seeking a contested preselection.

So what was Peter going to do?

At the moment that’s a decision for others.

There’s the kind of initiative that you’d expect to see from a future leader of the Liberal Party. And so a few days later, when nobody else took Peter’s initiative for him, he ate his liver and went grovelling back to the people of Dickson:

Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton has announced he will fight the next election in the seat of Dickson.

The decision to stay on in the northern Brisbane seat is a backflip for Mr Dutton, who had earlier ruled it out after an electoral redistribution made Dickson notionally Labor by a margin of 1 per cent.

[...]

“I’ve tested their loyalty and their support over the last month and it’s my job now, between this point and the next election, to win back that support and faith and that’s what I intend to do.”

Putting aside the presumptuous and petulant way in which Peter Dutton has conducted himself, the whole saga highlights the mostly absurd facade that federal politics is about local issues and local relationships. Despite attempts by all federal politicians to emphasise their connections to their local communities through websites, newsletters and the like, and while a solid minority of voters cast their ballots based largely or entirely on local issues, the vast majority of voters make their decision based on party lines and national issues. Antony Green highlights the particular un-localness of Dutton’s seat:

The problem with the seat of Dickson for anyone wanting a senior role in politics is that it currently covers outer suburban mortgage belt territory, classic territory for a swinging seat. It is also in a rapidly growing corner of a rapidly growing city in a rapidly growing state. In recent years Queensland has been gaining an extra seat between every election, and the geography of South East Queensland means that Dickson lies in one Brisbane’s growth corridors, so its boundaries move back and forth at each election.

Which makes it hard to build a local profile when your constituents keep changing.

Having said that, some politicians have a genuine connection to their local electorates and see their job description as a mixture of local and Commonwealth duties. Take ex-Liberal leader and now ex-MP Brendan (Did you know I’m a doctor?) Nelson. Nelson (who I bet you didn’t know owns five guitars) made a graceful exit from Parliament last week, bound for a European posting, and said goodbye to his constituents as only a man who can listening tour and overnight-truck and Tarago-emote like him can.

Brendan gives the thumbs-up to a Tarago with a wheelchair in the back and five kids

No matter what you say about Brendan (Have you seen my motorcycles?) Nelson – and I’ve previously said a lot – the genuine and slightly innocent affection that Nelson holds for his electorate is touching. While I’m still not sure how relevant local connection is in modern politics, it’s interesting to compare the cases of Dutton and Nelson and ponder the differences in the way they have approached their political careers.