Dutton holds fire on McGowan barbs

Peter Dutton remains open to having a cooperative relationship with Mark McGowan despite the premier having called his intelligence into question less than a month ago.

Mr Dutton was elected opposition leader following the Coalition's defeat at the federal election, at which Labor secured a majority in the lower house and the notionally blue-ribbon seat of Curtin fell to a teal independent.

His rise to the top job was met with poor polling in Western Australia and harsh words from Mr McGowan, who labelled the Queenslander an 'extremist' who was 'not that smart'.

Mr Dutton appeared unfazed by the insults at the time, calling it 'water off a duck's back'.

He repeated that sentiment today in his first appearance in Western Australia as opposition leader, leaving the door open to having a constructive relationship with the premier in the coming years.

"I'm very happy to have a cooperative relationship with Mark," he said.

"I sent him [a message] when one of his children was sick over the course of COVID to wish him well, and hopefully his child recovered quickly.

"He didn't get a chance to respond to that message, which is fine.

"But I've had a good relationship with him during the course of COVID, when we're dealing with coal ships and visiting crews and cruise liners.

"We're able to deal constructively and I'm very keen to continue that constructive relationships."

Mr Dutton arrived in WA this morning for the federal opposition's first shadow cabinet meeting since the May election.

The state was once a bastion of Liberal strength, with the likes of Mathias Cormann, Christian Porter and Julie Bishop having held top ministerial jobs during the coalition government's nine-year tenure.

Labor's strong performance this year, in which it won nine of the state's 15 seats, was chalked up to a range of factors, including Mr McGowan's strong public support and the federal government's decision to back Clive Palmer's constitutional challenge to the state's 'hard' border in 2020.

Mr Dutton appeared careful not to lash the premier too aggressively this afternoon, conceding that while he was happy to meet and work with Mr McGowan, he worried about escalating ambulance ramping and the overall condition of the state's health system.

"That's not just an issue here but in other jurisdictions," he said.

Elsewhere, Mr Dutton called David Honey the right person to lead the state Liberal Party, while conceding his future in the job was a decision for the party room to make.

The two party leaders will meet tomorrow.

Shadow cabinet's first meeting in Perth earlier today. Photo: David Henry

Energy market woes

Mr Dutton's hesitation to criticise Mr McGowan didn't extend to newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who the opposition leader was keen to attack for his government's handling of the energy market amid a burgeoning crisis in the eastern states.

WA, unlike the rest of the country, has instituted a domestic gas reservation policy that requires producers to sell a certain volume of liquefied natural gas back into the local market.

Energy prices have skyrocketted throughout the rest of the country in the absence of such a policy, with the Australian Energy Market Operator today stepping in to suspend the energy market in every state except WA.

"We want to make sure that people have affordable energy and reliable energy," Mr Dutton told reporters this afternoon.

"We can't have a situation where families and businesses can't turn the lights on and find themselves in a position where there's no power.

"That is just completely untenable.

"Some of the decisions that you've seen Chris Bowen make or not make at the moment are really exacerbating a difficult situation, making a bad situation even worse."

Mr Dutton praised the work of Angus Taylor, who held the energy portfolio until last month, in maintaining reliability and low prices on the back of his relationships with companies in the sector.

That's despite instances where Mr Taylor appeared blindsided by major decisions that would affect generation and overall reliability, such as Origin Energy's initial move to close its coal-fired Eraring power station in NSW in February.

"This is a problem that Mr Bowen has created," Mr Dutton said.

"[He] went to the election saying that he would reduce electricity prices.

"At the moment we're seeing the complete opposite, and we're seeing great uncertainty around the supply of electricity."

The national market operator's suspension of the spot market will mean it can now set wholesale prices and commandeer generators to meet demand where neccessary.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, a senior figure in the state's Liberal Party, was among those to welcome the move this afternoon.