‘Tough old bugger’: Dutton reveals he contemplated pulling out of debate​on April 9, 2025 at 12:31 am

Peter Dutton considered pulling out of the leaders’ debate on Tuesday night after his father suffered from a heart attack that left him in hospital in the hours leading up to the event in Sydney.

But the opposition leader decided that his father Bruce was a strong man who had his daughters around him and pressed on with the town hall-style debate against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a western Sydney leagues club.

Dutton told Sydney radio station Nova FM on Wednesday that he had spoken to his father, a former builder, earlier in the morning.

“He’s 80 this year. He’s stoic and he’s a tough old bugger. So he’ll be fine,” he said. “Look I thought, ‘do I pull out of the debate?’ But my sisters were up there with him and giving me regular reports, which was good, but yeah he’s a great man and I love him very much.”

News of Bruce Dutton’s condition broke minutes before the party leaders were due to make their case to 100 undecided voters at the televised Sky News event on Tuesday night. He was in a stable condition in a Queensland hospital on Tuesday night.

The opposition leader and prime minister pitched their plans for cost-of-living relief at the event.

Sky’s undecided audience voted Albanese the winner of the debate, 44 to 35 with 21 people left undecided.

More to come.

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