Peter Dutton hints that he could introduce one of Trump’s most controversial policies in Australia during bombshell interview with Peta Credlin

Peter Dutton will likely throw his support behind removing trans athletes from women’s sports, after President Donald Trump recently did the same thing in the US, he said in a bombshell interview.

The Coalition leader told Peta Credlin during a Sky News interview aired on Thursday that trans athletes competing against biological women was ‘not in the spirit of of sport’.

He addressed a range of topics including trans athletes in sports, Australia Day and his issues with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s handling of anti-Semitism in the wide-ranging interview. 

Mr Dutton said there were only ‘two sexes’ and allowing trans athletes to compete against biological women was ‘one of those debates that we have to be honest in’.

‘It’s not about discriminating against anyone, including young girls,’ he said. 

‘I just don’t believe in discriminating against anyone, not on the basis of anything, and for young girls not to be able to achieve their Olympic dream, their pathway to a World Cup, or to be displaced from a team, because, you know, somebody has a physiological advantage over them. I just don’t think that that’s in the spirit of sport.’

He weighed into the transgender sports debate after President Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from competing in school sports while surrounded by women and girls in the White House on Wednesday.

Credlin noted that Mr Dutton’s daughter was herself a swimmer and asked if that made the issue closer to his heart. 

‘I mean, surely it’s not controversial to want to protect sports for girls,’ Credlin asked.

Mr Dutton replied: ‘We know that there are two sexes, and we know that, you know, for many families, for different reasons, this is a very confronting debate.’

‘I mean, I respect somebody’s privacy, their privacy, of their sexuality, of their situation, and that’s paramount to me, but again, we have to have a society which respects parental rights and the rights of children to be innocent.’ 

President Trump’s directive to ban trans athletes from competing against women in schools will be implemented by the US Department of Justice immediately. 

It will be enacted using the president’s interpretation of Title IX, a law against sex discrimination in education, which experts have said will only have a minimal impact on sports.

Only 10 transgender athletes have been recorded within the 520,000 students competing at 1,100 member schools, they said. 

President Trump shared a similar sentiment with Mr Dutton, stating that gender and sex is an ‘immutable biological reality’ during his inaugural speech on January 20.

Elsewhere in the interview, the Opposition Leader also took issue with Mr Albanese’s ‘lack of leadership’ in combating anti-Semitism. 

‘I think it’s been one of the most shameful periods of leadership or lack thereof, that I’ve seen in my lifetime,’ Mr Dutton said.

‘You know that that’s not about politics. It’s because there is a serious problem here, and somebody will lose their life.

‘I think every Australian has really been rattled by the poor response from the Prime Minister.’ 

He fears there will be a terrorist attack if the issue isn’t promptly addressed as a national security crisis.

Mr Dutton also reaffirmed his election pledge to retain January 26 as Australia Day and intends to only have the Australian flag on display during press conferences if elected as Prime Minister. 

Mr Albanese currently has the both the Australian and Aboriginal flags on display during press conferences. 

‘And I just think there is a collective sigh of relief, and a number of people have come up to me to say, ‘thanks for what you said in relation to the flag’. You know, we have a lot of respect for the indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but it is not our national flag,’ he said.

‘And I think, ‘well, why? Why would we be ashamed of that. Why wouldn’t we embrace it?’

Mr Dutton also called on companies to continue selling Australia Day merchandise after several years of boycotts on the products and refused to apologise for the strong stance. 

 ‘You know, because the haters will hate, and there’s always that element,’ he said.

He specifically called out Woolworths for its ‘bad behaviour’ before applauding the supermarket for reversing its stance this year by stocking Australia Day merchandise. 

Mr Dutton had one final parting shot at Mr Albanese.

‘I think he’s completely and utterly disconnected with people in the suburbs and that’s why I say I think the modern Labor Party is not the party of the worker,’ he said.

‘The modern Labor Party is the party of the inner city trendy, and that has created all sorts of problems there.’