EXCLUSIVE
The opposition leader has been branded 'Double Standards Dutton' by Labor for quietly taking a trip to India, while the Coalition has attacked Anthony Albanese as 'Airbus Albo' for making four foreign trips in a month.
Photos obtained by Ny Breaking Australia show Mr Dutton in New Delhi between November 1 and 4 for the India Australia Strategic Alliance summit, at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the trip, Mr Dutton dined with billionaire steel magnate Naveen Jindal and wore traditional clothing while visiting temples and cooking naan with locals.
He also met other business leaders and attended a gala dinner.
The trip coincided with Albanese's meeting with President Xi Jingping in China – one of four trips the prime minister made after the failed Voice referendum – which led to a wave of 'Airbus Albo' criticism from voters and voters alike opposition.
Mr Dutton had no objection to Mr Albanese's foreign travel – other than telling him not to go to the APEC summit in San Francisco, but instead to stay and focus on domestic issues.
These photos of Mr Dutton in India may show why.
During the trip, Mr Dutton spoke about the close ties between Australia and India, and his wish for the two countries to have a closer and deeper relationship in the future.
On Wednesday, Assistant Minister to Prime Minister Patrick Gorman said in Parliament that Mr Dutton was accompanied on the trip by a delegation of 20 people, including “an unlicensed real estate agent, a disgraced Liberal candidate, unregistered migration agents and property developers”.
“I think you have a right to know who was in his delegation, how are they selected? What did they do? Who paid the bill?' he said.
“And the only person who actually promoted the Leader of the Opposition's trip was the Member for Latrobe, Jason Wood.
'He showed on Facebook how great it was to be there with the opposition leader. At the same time, he criticized the Prime Minister for the Prime Minister's travel.”
Mr Gorman told Ny Breaking Australia that Dutton's trip to India was reminiscent of “secret trips abroad that Scott Morrison did”.
The opposition leader posed in a traditional bright orange scarf with local women who showed him how to cook naan bread, and smiled with his hands folded in a prayer position in front of an elaborate temple.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton made a whirlwind trip to India last month at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pictured here with fellow Coalition MP Jason Wood (left) and Liberal councilor for Blacktown Livingston Chettipally (centre)
Elsewhere, he was pictured on two separate occasions: at a dinner with billionaire Jindal, who made his fortune operating an ironworks and has ties to the India Australia Strategic Alliance, and at a separate gala dinner.
Mr Dutton rounded off the trip with a visit to schoolchildren. One photo shows the grinning Liberal leader bending over so a young girl can try on his glasses.
According to Mr Gorman, these light-hearted snaps capturing Mr Dutton's softer side could be the handiwork of a “PR company in India” reportedly hired to “promote” the visit.
“Double standards Dutton is not normally afraid of hypocrisy, but attacking ministers who travel while he is in India itself lacks any self-awareness,” Gorman said.
He argued that the Albanian government is working to “restore Australia's position in the world” after almost a decade of coalition rule.
During that time, relations between Australia and some of our allies deteriorated to the point where Scott Morrison 'couldn't even get a phone call back' from China and was branded a liar by French President Emmanuel Macron over a failed submarine deal.
Mr Dutton used his opportunity in India to signal what Australia's foreign policy could look like with a coalition government under new management.
Speaking about the already strong ties between Australia and India, Mr Dutton said he would like to see more military training operations – not just between our two nations, but also multilaterally.
“This is no time for reconciliation. Whenever we have witnessed authoritarian coercion and aggression, it is critical that countries large and small unite to unequivocally condemn such behavior,” he said.
Addressing the crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe directly, Mr Dutton said “democracy is always under threat” and signaled he would show tougher leadership.
'Times of terrorism have not disappeared. Recent world events remind us that civilization is not naturally trending toward democracy.”
And while Mr Dutton has yet to respond to Mr Gorman's criticism of the trip, or to questions raised about the delegation, he showered the group with praise in one of the speeches he gave at the Strategic Summit Alliance.
Describing the group as “hard workers” who had achieved success, he said: “They value the rule of law and have created wealth for themselves and for their country.”
They included former Liberal candidates such as Virosh Perera, who described himself as an “influencer in the political arena” during the 2022 election campaign, and Livingston Chettipally, the former candidate for Chifley who became a councilor for Blacktown.
Mr Dutton visited Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib, a Sikh place of worship in Delhi
Mr Dutton was also photographed at a gala dinner during the whirlwind trip
Mr Dutton dined in New Dehli to discuss the economy and trade with billionaire industrialist and steel magnate Naveen Jindal. In the photo he is sitting at the head of the table.
Recent research from Newspoll recently found that the major parties are split 50:50 on a two-party basis.
Mr Dutton and the Coalition have capitalized on voter dissatisfaction over several key issues, most notably a Supreme Court ruling that allowed 142 asylum seekers – some of whom are “hardened criminals” – to walk free from indefinite detention.
The prime minister's packed travel schedule had also raised eyebrows among critics, who questioned the need to attend so many international summits.
Mr Dutton himself called on Mr Albanese to skip APEC – which has missed only one serving prime minister due to a death in the family – and work with the coalition to find a solution to the Supreme Court mess.
Coalition MP Jason Wood (pictured right) was also traveling with Mr Dutton
A compilation of photos from the trip now gives a clearer picture of the itinerary, which included visits to schoolchildren, places of worship and meetings with ministers
The coalition repeatedly noted that the Prime Minister had made four international trips in one month: twice to the US, to China and to the Cook Islands.
And it was in the middle of this programme, which dominated the headlines and Question Time, that Mr Dutton slipped away to the India Australia Strategic Alliance.
Meanwhile, 16 percent of the Coalition party space and 26.7 percent of the front bench were also out of the country, wrapping up a visit to London for an international meeting of conservative politicians called the 'Alliance for Responsible Citizenship'.
That summit ended on November 1, the day Dutton's summit in New Delhi began.
A large delegation of opposition MPs and Senators attended the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event – a gathering of international conservative politicians – from October 28 to November 1.