Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is contacting his former Liberal colleagues in the parliament and urging them to vote for Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton to be referred to the High Court. Mr Turnbull confirmed he was lobbying his former colleagues, including prime minister Scott Morrison.
Mr Turnbull confirmed he was lobbying colleagues, including prime minister Scott Morrison, after reports surfaced in the media.
“The point I have made to Scott Morrison and other colleagues is that given the uncertainty around Peter Dutton’s eligibility, acknowledged by the Solicitor General, he should be referred to the High Court, as Barnaby was, to clarify the matter,” Mr Turnbull wrote on Twitter from New York.
The tweet is Mr Turnbull’s first major intervention in Australian politics since he was rolled as prime minister and will prompt more questions about the factional divide within the Coalition.
Asked about his predecessor’s comments on Thursday morning, Mr Morrison confirmed they had spoken “last week” but said he would not support a referral.
“Someone once told me in this job, all contributions should be gratefully received. They are,” Mr Morrison said.
“But as the prime minister, I’ll obviously make the decisions in relation to our government on what I believe is in the national interest, based on the most recent and most timely information that I have available to me.”
He said he respected contributions from “previous leaders” and all his colleagues.
He pointed out a Labor motion to refer Mr Dutton had already been defeated on the floor of the House of Representatives.
“I think people have had enough of the lawyers’ picnics on these sort of issues and they want us to focus completely and totally on what the nation needs, here and now,” he said.
Mr Dutton is facing questions about his stake in a trustee company that operates two childcare centres.
The centres receive subsidies that were legislated by the Turnbull government – although the money is designed to pay for the services for the children.
Labor is pushing the parliament to refer the matter to the High Court, so the court can determine whether Mr Dutton’s stake in the childcare centres puts him in breach of Section 44 of the Constitution.
But it will need a majority of MPs in the House of Representatives to support a referral, meaning at least one Coalition MP would need to cross the floor.
The matter first surfaced in the leadup to the Liberal leadership spill that ended Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership. Mr Dutton spearheaded a challenge for the leadership but Scott Morrison emerged as victor in the resulting three-way ballot.
Mr Dutton and Labor have released conflicting legal advice. The government’s own lawyer, the solicitor-general, said Mr Dutton was likely okay, but said it was “impossible to state the position with certainty”.
Mr Morrison has now said he will check if Mr Dutton stepped out of the cabinet room when changes to childcare funding were discussed.
Mr Dutton has a family financial interest in two Brisbane childcare centres, which now get direct Commonwealth funding due to recent law changes.
Mr Morrison is checking whether Mr Dutton recused himself from cabinet when the funding changes were decided.
“I have always complied with the cabinet rules, I have declared any interests that I’ve had in any discussion,” Mr Dutton told parliament yesterday.
“I have recused myself from discussions where that’s been deemed appropriate.
“In an abundance of care, I make the declaration of my wife’s interest in relation to these matters, and that’s been my practice for a long period of time.”
