Lech Blaine in conversation with Mark Kenny

Lech Blaine will be in conversation with Mark Kenny on his new quarterly essay Bad Cop. Peter Dutton's Strongman Politics. Who is Peter Dutton, and what happened to the Liberal Party? In Bad Cop, Lech Blaine traces the making of a hardman – from Queensland detective to leader of the Opposition, from property investor to minister for Home Affairs. This is a story of ambition, race and power, and a politician with a plan.

Dutton became Liberal leader with a strategy to win outer-suburban and regional seats from Labor. Since then we have seen his demolition of the Voice and a rolling campaign of culture wars. What does Peter Dutton know about the Australian electorate? Has he updated Menzies’ Forgotten People pitch for the age of anxiety, or will he collapse the Liberals’ broad church? This revelatory portrait is sardonic, perceptive and altogether compelling.

“Dutton doesn't need to become prime minister to redraw the battle lines of Australian politics. His fight with Albanese over parochial voters was always going to drag the political conversation rightwards: on race, immigration, gender and the pace of a transition away from fossil fuels … Dutton’s raison d’être? Make Australia Afraid Again. Then he will offer himself as the lesser of two evils. A serious strongman for the age of anxiety.”—Lech Blaine,

Lech Blaine, an award-winning writer and journalist from Queensland, is the author of the critically-acclaimed Car Crash: A Memoir and the Quarterly Essay Top Blokes.Car Crash was shortlisted for the National Biography Award and two categories at the Queensland Literary Awards He was the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence. His writing has appeared in Good Weekend, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Monthly

Mark Kenny is Professor at the Australian Studies Institute at ANU, where he hosts the popular podcast series 'Democracy Sausage' .Mark is the Canberra Times political analyst and a regular on the ABC's Insiders program, Sky News Agenda, and radio programs across the country.

The vote of thanks will be given by John Warhurst, Emeritus Professor of Political Science at ANU