Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has responded publicly for the first time to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s request to join him at this weekend’s Garma Festival. 

It comes after the Prime Minister on Wednesday, during question time, urged Dutton to “spend less time on his dirt unit and more time in the red dirt of the Top End.”

Dutton on Thursday confirmed he won’t attend the Garma Festival, a four-day event held in northeast Arnhem Land, declaring he won’t pretend to be someone that he’s not.

“I’m not going up there to pretend I’m somebody that I’m not,” he said on 2GB’s The Ray Hadley Morning Show.

Hear more from The Ray Hadley Morning Show below: