Libspill drama to continue while Scott Morrison keeps ‘running scared’ of Peter Dutton: Mark Dreyfus
There’s still “tremendous rancour” in the government, Labor’s Mak Dreyfus says.
Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus says Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop’s interventions over Peter Dutton’s eligibility to sit in parliament show there’s still “tremendous rancour” in the government after last month’s leadership spill.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on his predecessor to stop undermining the government, with the Prime Minister’s office approaching key members of the ousted leader’s camp in a bid to end leaking and destabilisation.
Mr Dutton maintains that his interests in two childcare centres which pass on government subsidies to parents are not in breach of the constitution, but Ms Bishop yesterday said there was a need for clarity around the Home Affairs MInister’s eligibility.
“Clearly that’s a matter for the Prime Minister or indeed the Leader of the Opposition to determine,” Ms Bishop said yesterday.
“If there’s a vote on the matter well I’ll make my mind up at that time, but of course we have personal responsibility to ensure that we are eligible to sit in the parliament.”
Mr Dreyfus said it was clear the government was still divided.
“What needs to happen is that Scott Morrison needs to apply the same standard to Mr Dutton that was applied to Mr Joyce when he was deputy prime minister, a more senior minister than Mr Dutton at the time,” Mr Dreyfus told ABC radio.
“There the government had advice that Mr Joyce was eligible. You might recall Malcolm Turnbull standing in the parliament saying, ‘the High Court will so hold’ but notwithstanding that, the government referred Mr Joyce to the High Court, and of course we know the outcome: despite the advice the government had received from the Solicitor-General, the High Court said Mr Joyce was not eligible.”
Mr Dreyfus said Labor’s situation, when Opposition Leader Bill Shorten offered a “rolled gold” guarantee that there were no dual citizens on his side, was different, claiming the “law was changed” when former senator Katy Gallagher was found ineligible by the High Court, prompting the resignations of Labor MPs Justine Keay, Susan Lamb and Josh Wilson and Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie.
“As soon as the law was changed, which is what happened in that Gallagher decision in the High Court earlier this year, our three members whose positions were affected by the restatement of the law, they resigned, and what should happen here is respect for the constitution,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“What should happen here is not game-playing, not Mr Morrison running scared from the fact that he’s relying on Mr Dutton’s vote, that he’s probably taking instructions from Mr Dutton, that he’s relying Mr Dutton’s vote to support his illegitimate government, one-vote government, one-vote majority.
“He needs to do what Julie Bishop says: that is get clarity, get certainty, remove the risk that’s hanging over a very senior minister in the government.
“It’s a risk that goes not just to his eligibility to sit in the parliament, it’s a risk that goes to his eligibility to be a minister, and the validity of all the decisions that he has made and will make as a minister.
“It’s extraordinary that Mr Morrison is being so weak that he is ignoring the advice of the Solicitor-General that the matter is not certain, that the matter is one of risk. That’s what the Solicitor-General’s advice says, however it was misrepresented by Mr Dutton.”
Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue found Mr Dutton was “not incapable” of sitting in parliament, however, Mr Dreyfus said Dr Donaghue’s advice also stated that he was “not provided with enough factual information, (and) that the matter is one in which there is risk that the High Court would find that Mr Dutton is ineligible (and) one where the law is not clear because the High Court has never had to rule on a situation like Mr Dutton’s where you’ve got someone who’s got an interest in two childcare centres that have received millions of dollars from the commonwealth.”
“It’s an extraordinary thing that Mr Dutton’s pretending, quite falsely, that the matter is beyond doubt,” Mr Dreyfus aid.
“That’s just wrong. The Solicitor-General did not say that, and worse, for the Prime Minister of Australia to be suggesting that this is, I think his words were a ‘lawyers’ picnic’, or that ‘people were over lawyers’ picnics’, that shows the level of respect that this weak Prime Minister has for our constitution.”
Mr Dreyfus described Attorney-General Christian Porter’s attack on Labor for withholding information about Mr Dutton’s situation for 126 days and revealing it at a time of political expediency as “a ridiculous distraction”.
“The Attorney-General should be ashamed of himself for his circus-like performance in the parliament yesterday,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“The point is one of substance. It doesn’t matter when it’s brought forward. We brought it forward because we thought it was a matter of national importance that someone who is running for Prime Minister of Australia might in fact be ineligible to sit in the parliament.
“I repeat, it doesn’t matter when a point is raised, it doesn’t matter who raises it, it’s still a point of substance, and here, as it happens, one of Australia’s most eminent constitutional counsel: Bret Walker, two of Australia’s leading constitutional experts: Professor (George) Williams and Professor (Anne) Twomey, have all said that there is substantial doubt, indeed Walker has said that in his view Mr Dutton is ineligible, and the Solicitor-General’s advice on which Mr Dutton is trying to rely says there is a doubt.
“The Prime Minister should spend the weekend reflecting on the appalling state of affairs that he has created, and on Monday come into the parliament and refer Mr Dutton to the High Court.”
Asked whether Labor would attempt to refer the matter to the High Court if Mr Morrison does not, Mr Dreyfus said the opposition would keep its options open.
“And it’s apparent that others are keeping their options open too, such as Julie Bishop who said that there needs to be clarity and that she’ll be making up her mind if and when she’s called on to do so, and we’d be hoping that other members sitting on the government benches have more respect for the Constitution of Australia than the current Prime Minister is showing for the Constitution of Australia,” he said.
Wentworth always going to be a fight
Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus said Labor was always going to have a fight on its hands in Wentworth.
The Jewish MP said he knew Mr Sharma, the former Israeli Ambassador.
“I think he’ll make a good candidate, but we will be looking to take the fight right up to him, and to the Liberal Party, and Dave Sharma needs to perhaps be giving some answers to the people of Wentworth,” Mr Dreyfus told ABC radio.
“He needs to be trying to find a policy on climate change, for example, trying to find a policy on energy, which is completely absent from this government, and again the result shows the divisions in the Liberal Party that they couldn’t bring themselves to preselect a woman.”
Bishop ‘chose her words very carefully’
Asked what Ms Bishop may have meant yesterday when she suggested alleged bullying among colleagues during last month’s leadership spill “could be in some instances illegal”, Mr Dreyfus said the former Liberal deputy leader had likely chosen her words carefully.
“I can say that clearly Julie Bishop, a very senior, very longstanding member of this parliament, chose her words carefully,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“She knows the detail of what the conduct was. I can only imagine that it’s something that goes to the provisions in the criminal code or the provisions in the electoral act, which make it a criminal offence to try to bribe an elected official or make it a criminal offence to try and intimidate or coerce an elected official.
“They’d be the kind of criminal provisions that I imagine Julie Bishop is talking about, but without more detail as to the actual conduct, I’m simply speculating. What I would say again is Julie Bishop chose her words carefully.”
‘We’re getting on with the job’
Asked if the government was “eating itself” following the coup against Mr Turnbull, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne replied “no, it isn’t”.
“We’re getting on with the job. We are creating the jobs in the workforce. The economy is growing,” he told the Nine Network on Friday.
“I think it is time to move on. I think people are thoroughly sick of it.”
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said the government were like “cats in a bag, all fighting and scratching”.
“This is a government in its death throes — the whole of the country can see it,” he told the Nine Network.
“We now have a parliament where Peter Dutton is sitting there. People know there is a question mark over his eligibility. He should refer himself to the High Court.
“This government should go to an election and give the Australian people a say in who the prime minister is.”
Turnbull ‘a private citizen’
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann noted that Mr Turnbull had pursued the argument about Mr Dutton’s eligibility “over the last few weeks, including the last few days of the last sitting week in the last sitting fortnight.”
“As far as I’m concerned there is no uncertainty in relation to Peter Dutton’s eligibility to sit in the parliament,” Senator Cormann told Sky News.
“He received his own very unequivocal legal advice from a former Solicitor-General in David Bennett QC, who has got a very strong track record in the High Court when it comes to Section 44 cases.
“That was backed up by our current Solicitor-General. If the Labor Party wants to continue to pursue this on partisan grounds, good luck to them, but as far as I’m concerned the legal position is very clear.
“Peter Dutton is entirely eligible to sit in the Australian parliament as he has of course for the last 17 years, having won the seat of Dickson from the Labor Party back in 2001.”
Asked about Ms Bishop’s intervention yesterday, Senator Cormann claimed the government was “united”.
“We have not been getting distracted by any of this,” he said.
“Now individual members of parliament, in particular members of the parliament and the backbench of course, prior to any vote, would assess what is in front of them to make judgements, that’s what we do every single day, that is just business as usual, but what I would say is that the House of Representatives of course did vote in relation to the eligibility of Peter Dutton.
“They were dealing with a motion by Labor seeking to refer him to the High Court, and both Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop voted against the Labor motion to refer him to the High Court, because of course we very firmly are of the view that there is no issue to be resolved here.
“The position is very clear, based on unequivocal legal advice, in particular from David Bennett QC, who arguably has been the most successful QC in front of the High Court in relation to Section 44 matters in recent times.”
Asked about Ms Bishop’s comment that there needs to be clarity, and a Herald Sun report that another two Liberal MPs are considering crossing the floor to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court, Senator Cormann said where was legal clarity.
“I can’t speculate obviously about anonymous reports. What I can say is that there is legal clarity, unequivocal legal clarity,” he said.
“If you are putting to me that there are political dynamics at play, well let the Labor Party initiate what they want to initiate and let’s see what the House of Representatives does.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no question mark over Peter Dutton’s eligibility to sit in the parliament, as there hasn’t been for the last 17 years that he’s been the Member for Dickson.”
Senator Cormann said Mr Turnbull was now a private citizen.
“It’s entirely up to him what he chooses to do from here,” he said.
Asked whether the former prime minister’s interventions were unhelpful, Senator Cormann said Mr Turnbull was no longer a member of the government.
“He’s a private citizen in New York. I’m not going to provide a running commentary on what he may or may not have to say from here on in,” Senator Cormann said.
—With AAP
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