Peter Dutton renounced childcare centre interest

Peter Dutton relinquished interest in a family trust before he nominated for the May election.

Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton. Picture: AAP

Peter Dutton has relinquished his interest in a family trust that cast doubt over his eligibility to sit in parliament before he nominated for the May election, lifting a constitutional cloud that had remained for months over the Home Affairs Minister.

Mr Dutton’s office confirmed he “formally renounced any interest in the trust in question” before he nominated to recontest the Queensland seat of Dickson to “silence those who are politically motivated and continue to raise this”.

Before the 45th parliament rose, there were questions over whether Mr Dutton, as a beneficiary of the RHT Family Trust, had an indirect pecuniary interest through any agreement between RHT Investments (as trustee for the family trust) and the commonwealth.

RHT Investments operated Camelia Avenue Child Care Centre, which is owned by Mr Dutton’s wife Kirilly Dutton and received the child care subsidy and a subsidy for a special needs teacher worth $15,640.

Mr Dutton said his advice was that as long as the childcare centre received no profit there was not an issue under section 44 of the Constitution.

Mr Dutton’s spokeswoman said he had received two “unambiguous” legal opinions from leading barristers specialising in constitutional law, including former Solicitor-General David Bennett QC, which advised he was not in breach of section 44 of the Constitution.

“These legal opinions are supported by the Solicitor-General (Stephen Donaghue) who concluded in his legal advice that in his opinion the better view was that the Minister was not in breach of section 44,” she said.

But he rescinded his stake in the family trust regardless.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said he would have to see the detail of what Mr Dutton had done to relinquish his interest in the trust before he could determine if there were no longer questions over his eligibility.

“It confirms, I think pretty clearly, the fact he has done this or claimed to be doing this that there were serious doubts, that there were serious problems about his eligibility to sit in parliament, eligibility to be a minister and certainly his eligibility to be prime minster,” Mr Dreyfus told Sky News.