Peter Dutton has been a busy man since being appointed defence minister two weeks ago. He wants to end the "wokening" of our armed forces. He's leading a crusade against waterdrop Twitter. He’s still finding an opportunity to make the Biloela family's life hell, despite being moved on from the home affairs portfolio. And he’s facing scrutiny from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).
Dutton's appointment to defence was widely celebrated by News Corp types, who felt he was the kind of no-bullshit guy needed to rebuild the strength of a portfolio that has had nine ministers in the last 14 years. And his early weeks are likely to have impressed them. Dutton is leaning into the kind of hard-nosed culture-warring that has always made him such a darling of the right.
A war on woke
Last week, Dutton announced that his first priority as defence minister was to repair a morale slump across the Australian Defence Force, and remind troops the government "has their back". The subtext to this is pretty clear.
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