Former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has announced that Member of the Australian House of Representatives Peter Dutton will be the new leader of the Liberal-National Party.

Andrews said that Dutton will be standing unopposed to take on the leadership as four senior Liberals that had been touted as potential rivals to him, have stepped aside.

She adds that his deputy is almost certain to be New South Wales Member of Parliament and former Environment Minister, Sussan Ley. Andrews said that Dutton and Ley would work together well.

“Together, they will bring a team to appoint people into the shadow ministry and to reshape the party for the future,” she told ABC news.

While Andrews was expected to be announced as deputy, she says that having both the deputy and leadership roles being filled by Queensland locals would be untenable.

“While that is personally disappointing for me,” she said, “I understand that we need to rebuild across the country. Queensland took a hit, some of the other states took a significant hit and we need to go back to our values and look closely at this.”

Previously, Dutton lost the leadership battle for the Liberal party in 2018 after Malcolm Turnbull was ousted. He joined the Liberal party as a teenager and has served as a police officer as well as a minister of health, immigration and defence.

Outgoing Liberal member of parliament, Dave Sharma offered support for Dutton in an interview with ABC radio.

“His first job and his main job is to hold the government to account. I think he can do a good job of that. He’s our most experienced parliamentarian by some way,” he said.

Photo: Tables and Chairs inside a room by Aditya Joshi.  The photo is used under a Creative Commons license and free to use here.  This photo has not been modified in any way.