has defended his decision to leave Brisbane while South-East Queensland was preparing for Topical Cyclone Alfred to attend a billionaire's fundraiser in Sydney, saying it was "not a party".Dutton, whose local electorate of Dickson is in Brisbane's north-west, attended a briefing on the cyclone last Tuesday, and phoned in for an interview from Queensland on Wednesday morning with radio station 4BC.However, The Australian Financial Review reported on Wednesday night that, in between the two, Dutton had left his electorate to attend a fundraiser at the Sydney waterfront mansion owned by billionaire hospitality magnate Justin Hemmes on Tuesday night.EXPLAINED: Only three possible election dates left after cyclone wreaks havoc
Peter Dutton has defended leaving Brisbane to attend a billionaire's fundraiser in Sydney while Topical Cyclone Alfred was approaching. (Alex Ellinghausen)At the same time, the opposition leader has criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over suggestions he could call the federal election on Sunday during the recovery effort."I think people probably want from their prime minister governing not campaigning at a time like this," Dutton said on Wednesday.This morning, the opposition leader defended his decision to leave Brisbane for Sydney last week."I stuck to my diary, which was going to Sydney that morning," he told 4BC today.Clean up begins as flooding continues after Cyclone AlfredView Gallery"I had meetings down there, a lunch with one of the Archbishops in Sydney, I had meetings in the afternoon, I had a fundraising event – not a party – a fundraising event that night and I caught the first flight home on Wednesday."He accused the government of leveraging the event to criticise him."I'm very happy to put it all into context because I think, to be honest, Jim Chalmers and Murray Watt and Anthony Albanese look for political opportunity, which I think is actually pretty poor form in the time of the natural disaster to try and use that for political leverage to push out some sort of negative campaign," Dutton said."But that reflects more on them than it does me, I think."While Labor senator Murray Watt has criticised Dutton for attending the fundraiser, both Albanese and Chalmers said it was a matter for the opposition leader to explain.Albanese on Friday declined to attack Dutton over the matter, saying he "can comment on his own responsibilities, I am fulfilling mine".A day earlier, Chalmers – whose electorate of Rankin is in Brisbane's south – said the opposition leader leaving for Sydney "would be disappointing if it's true" when asked about the incident."I'm not sure if it is, but that would be very disappointing. That's for Peter Dutton to explain," he said.