Dutton may fight for Dickson

Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton has indicated he may yet contest his seat of
Dickson at the federal election.
Changes to the proposed redistribution have made his seat slightly easier to hold.
Mr Dutton said he had yet to make a decision whether to stay or seek another
electorate to contest.
With preselection nominations closing next Tuesday, he has little time to make up
his mind.
"I have been talking it through with my family and obviously (with) officials from
the party as well as to what options there might be. It's a decision I have got to
make," he told Sky News.
Under the draft redistribution announced in July, the seat of Dickson, held by Mr
Dutton since 2001, became notionally Labor.
Mr Dutton sought to transfer to the safer seat of McPherson but lost a hard-fought
preselection battle to newcomer Karen Andrews.
After considering objections to the proposed redistribution, the Australian
Electoral Commission announced some modest amendments on Friday. They will be
gazetted in mid-December.
Queensland ALP secretary Anthony Chisholm said the latest changes had made Dickson
slightly less winnable for Labor, slipping about 0.3 per cent.
Mr Chisholm said the minimal change to Dickson meant it still favoured Labor by
about one per cent.
"The ALP firmly sees Dickson as an opportunity given Mr Dutton's decision to desert
the electorate," he told AAP.
"We will be moving quickly to endorse a candidate committed to representing the
local community as soon as possible.
"There remains a clear challenge for the LNP with what to do with Peter Dutton."
Mr Dutton, the opposition's health spokesman and regarded as one of its better
performers, has ruled out transferring to the Senate or to state politics or of
bumping one of his Liberal colleagues.
"I am not interested in tapping anyone on the shoulder or pushing anyone along," he
said.
Mr Dutton said he had fought hard to hold Dickson at three elections but it was now
a very marginal seat.
"And in politics, the numbers are what they are and when you get a redraw of the
boundary which cuts out 10-15,000 people who were conservative voters and we go in
into territory which has been traditionally Labor voting, then I was faced with a
difficult question," he said.
Mr Dutton said seeking preselection for McPherson was a tough decision and he took
full responsibility for the outcome.
He said Labor had always fought dirty in Dickson.
"If they tried it again this time around, then who'd be surprised about that," he said.
The redistribution creates a 30th federal seat for Queensland.
Mr Chisholm said the amended boundaries made this seat, to be called Wright, about
one per cent tougher for Labor to win.
Wright is named after eminent Queensland poet Judith Wright but the initial
recommendation attracted 31 objections.
Australian Electoral Commission presiding member, former Federal Court judge Peter
Heerey QC, said in a statement a number of people had suggested the seat be named
after an indigenous identity, Len Waters, a former shearer who served as a fighter
pilot with the RAAF during World War II and died in 1993.
The commission backed the name Wright, noting that she was not only a distinguished
writer but a campaigner on conservation issues and Aboriginal rights and lived for
20 years at Mt Tamborine within the new electorate.