The opposition leader doesn’t want to give oxygen to distractions that might appear divisive – and Liberal insiders believe it’s the right choice

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When Peter Dutton called a rare Canberra press conference on Tuesday to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs strike, the opposition leader may well have been expecting questions about another matter close to home.

A day earlier, a clear majority of the Coalition’s 30 senators supported Pauline Hanson’s call for a parliamentary inquiry into the “human cost of experimental child gender treatments”, such as puberty blockers.