Peter Dutton has been named Australia’s opposition leader.

Following a humiliating election defeat, Australia’s main opposition party has named prominent conservative Peter Dutton to succeed Scott Morrison as leader.

Mr Dutton, the former defense minister, was elected with no opposition from Liberal MPs.

The Liberal-National coalition had ruled for nearly a decade when it was defeated by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party on May 21.

Some MPs blamed the defeat on the coalition’s polarizing leaders and its climate change stance.

It lost nearly 20 seats, including in areas traditionally considered Liberal Party strongholds.

Mr Dutton, who is from the party’s right, has been a divisive figure at times, and some wonder if he can rebuild Liberal support in more progressive, metropolitan areas.

He is best known for overseeing Australia’s contentious asylum-seeker policies and for his role in the demise of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

However, Mr Dutton claims that many Australians have only seen his tough side.

“I’m not going to change,” he said on Monday, “but I want people to see the whole person I am… and make their own decisions.”

“I’m not as bad as the [media] sometimes portrays me to be.”

Firm stances

The former cop was elected to parliament in 2001 and has held a variety of ministerial positions since then.

Mr Dutton challenged Mr Turnbull for the party leadership in 2018, but did not receive enough support to succeed him. Instead, Mr Morrison was elected party leader and prime minister.