Peter Duttons on Twitter deny being would-be Australian Prime Minister

  • 24/08/2018

Can the real Peter Dutton please stand up?

Twitter users with a familiar name have been bombarded with messages this week from people mistaking them for the potential future Prime Minister of Australia.

Peter Dutton, the popcorn sales manager from Texas, says he has no plans to move to Canberra. His twitter handle is PeterDutton5, and says it's been a funny few days.

"I've been randomly getting tweets for about a year now towards the Australian Peter Dutton. This week though there was increase, so I figured something was going on."

He is playing along, adding 'People's PM of Australia' to his Twitter bio. A GoFundMe crowdfunding effort to get him to Australia has so far only raised $10 of its $2500 goal.

Another Peter Dutton, this one the director of the China Maritime Studies Institute and the New York University School of Law, @peter_dutton has proposed he and the Australian Peter Dutton "take alternate days" as being leader of the lucky country.

After hearing about the Australian Peter Dutton, the New York Peter Dutton said he was "sorry to hear you are burdened with such a politician".

Another Peter Dutton, also from New York, actually has the Twitter handle @peterdutton. He said he's only been to Australia once - in 1998 - and "nothing that's happened there since is my fault".

He changed his screenname to 'Peter from Queens, not Queensland'.

Twitter/@peterdutton
Peter from Queens, not Queensland. Photo credit: Twitter/@peterdutton

The Australian Peter Dutton's Twitter handle is PeterDutton_MP. In 2014 he actually apologised to 'Peter from Queens, not Queensland' for the confusion.

"I'm sure you get lots of misdirected tweets - mainly abuse I suspect. My apologies. All the best."

Newshub.