Peter Dutton accuses Julia Banks of falsely claiming bullying

A fed-up Peter Dutton has levelled a sensational accusation at MP Julia Banks, who quit the Liberal Party amid bullying claims.

LIBERAL Party defector Julia Banks has been sensationally accused of falsely claiming she was bullied because she was bitter about not being promoted to Scott Morrison’s ministry.

It a brutal take-down, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he was calling out the Victorian MP’s case of “sour grapes”.

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Ms Banks, who was a close ally of Malcolm Turnbull, has repeatedly said she was bullied and intimidated by colleagues during the August spill.

She has never used parliamentary privilege to name the so-called bullies, but has continued to allege vague claims — most recently in a wide-ranging interview in The Australian Women’s Weekly.

But a fed-up Mr Dutton said Ms Banks lashed out because she did not get promoted.

“She has made allegations about being bullied, but has never detailed a single case,’’ Mr Dutton exclusively told The Sunday Mail.

“My colleagues have been tarnished by accusations of bullying and intimidation and the claims are false.

“It just didn’t happen and it has been used by Julia as an excuse to leave the party because she was upset about Malcolm losing the leadership and her not being promoted to the Ministry under Scott.

“It is pure and simple a case of sour grapes and it deserves to be called out. We need more women in politics but to suggest we have a bullying problem is ridiculous.”

Peter Dutton

Julia Banks

He also said Ms Banks — who has demanded changes to offshore processing — had never raised the issue with him before the spill. Mr Turnbull wholly supported offshore processing.

“Julia made a big issue of Nauru and kids in detention. The reality is she never raised it with me once.

“The fact is I have never put a single child in to detention on Nauru or Manus but Scott (Morrison) and I have got more kids and adults out of offshore processing than any of our predecessors.”

In an interview with Women’s Weekly, Ms Banks said she “spoke up many times and particularly on programs about women I’d get the eye-roll from the right-wing reactionary group”.

She blamed Mr Turnbull’s dumping on Tony Abbott, Mr Dutton and Health Minister Greg Hunt.

She said she was intimidated by party figures to bring on a spill against Mr Turnbull but did not name who or specify how.

Ms Banks did not respond to attempts to contact her yesterday.