Julie Bishop leaves open possibility of voting to refer Peter Dutton to High Court

Julie Bishop refuses to rule out voting to refer Peter Dutton to the High Court.

Julie Bishop has left open the possibility of voting to refer Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to the High Court. Picture: Kym Smith

Julie Bishop has left open the possibility of voting to refer Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton after Malcolm Turnbull revealed he had been encouraging colleagues to send his election to the High Court.

And Mr Dutton has hit back at Mr Turnbull, restating that he was eligible to sit in parliament, and urged the former prime minister to “conduct himself with dignity’’ and “enjoy his retirement”.

The former foreign minister and deputy Liberal leader said all MPs had a personal responsibility to ensure they were eligible to sit in parliament.

Asked if Mr Dutton should be referred under section 44 of the Constitution, Ms Bishop said: “That’s a matter for the Prime Minister or indeed the Leader of the Opposition to determine. If there’s a vote on the matter well I’ll make my mind up at that time but of course we want clarity around the standing of all the members of parliament.

“Mr Dutton has stated that there is no issue concerning his eligibility to sit in parliament. It’s then up to others to demonstrate that that statement is not correct.”

Ms Bishop, who was a staunch Turnbull ally, ran against Mr Dutton and Scott Morrison in the leadership contest but won the lowest number of votes and was kicked out in the first round.

She dismissed suggestions a tweet early this morning by Mr Turnbull, in which he confirmed he had been lobbying ministers to refer Mr Dutton, was in the realms of “sniping” — something Tony Abbott pledged not to do when he lost the prime ministership.

“I’m sure Malcolm’s enjoying his break from politics but he has opinions and like every other Australian he’s free to express them,” Ms Bishop said.

.@JulieBishopMP: We have personal responsibilities to ensure we are eligible to sit in parliament and we've seen, in recent times, steps taken by members to clarify their status. Other could refer it, but that's a matter for them.

MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/rNPSQfbCmy

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) September 13, 2018

‘Enjoy your retirement’

However, Mr Dutton this morning took a swipe at Mr Turnbull, repeating that he considered he was eligible to sit in parliament, and advised the former prime minister, who is presently holidaying in New York, to “enjoy his retirement”.

“I think John Howard has got the gold standard here, I think he conducts himself with dignity and I hope that all former prime ministers can do that,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio.

“I hope that Mr Turnbull is able to enjoy his retirement and contribute to the Liberal party in a way that John Howard has, that would be the ideal circumstance.”

Mr Dutton said Labor raised the issue of his eligibility in Senate estimates last year and nothing came of it. “Mr Turnbull never raised once with me any issue around section 44, his staff never raised it with my office, he never asked me for the legal advice that I had that showed I had no problem at all. And the first it was ever mentioned by Malcolm Turnbull was during the leadership week,” he said.

“The other point to make of course is that Mr Turnbull, when the Labor Party sought to refer the matter to the High Court, voted for it not to be referred so people can draw their own conclusions and judgments.”

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull has been lobbying colleagues to refer Peter Dutton to the High Court.

‘A lawyers’ picnic’

Earlier today, the Prime Minister rejected Mr Turnbull’s call to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court, declaring voters have had enough of the “lawyers’ picnic” of eligibility issues.

Mr Morrison said he was not distracted by Mr Turnbull’s intervention and respected the advice of the former prime minister.

“Someone once told me in this job, all contributions should be gratefully received, they are,” Mr Morrison said. “I obviously have a lot of respect for the former prime minister but as the Prime Minister now, then I’ll make the decisions that I believe are in the best interests of the nation.”

Mr Turnbull has been telling colleagues, including Mr Morrison, that they should vote to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court to test his eligibility to sit in parliament.

Mr Turnbull is currently in New York with his wife Lucy after the messy leadership spill spearheaded by the Home Affairs Minister.

A cloud has been over Mr Dutton’s eligibility due to his family’s ­financial interests in two Brisbane childcare centres that received $5.6 million in taxpayer-funded rebates over the past eight years.

Confirming his lobbying of ministers, Mr Turnbull tweeted early this morning: “The point I have made to @ScottMorrisonMP 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,” he tweeted.

The point I have made to @ScottMorrisonMP 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.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) September 12, 2018

Under section 44(v) of the Constitution, a person who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the federal public service cannot be elected or sit in the House of Representatives.

Mr Morrison said the issue had been voted on in the House of Representatives last month.

“I think people have had enough of the lawyers’ picnics on these sort of issues and they want to focus completely and totally on what the nation needs here and now and that’s to keep our economy strong and guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on,” he said.

Mr Dutton’s interests in the childcare centres came to light after his first tilt at the leadership. Malcolm Turnbull asked Attorney-General Christian Porter to call on the Solicitor-­General Stephen Donaghue QC to investigate.

Dr Donaghue could not conclusively find Mr Dutton was eligible to sit in federal parliament.

Labor have indicated they would try to leverage a majority in the House of Representatives in order to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court.

Mr Dutton’s links to the childcare centres are through a family trust that receives income from them, and through his wife Kir­i­l­ly’s direct role as the owner of a company that runs the centres.

Meanwhile, Mr Morrison is checking whether Mr Dutton stepped out of the cabinet when changes to childcare funding were discussed.

Mr Dutton is also facing calls to withdraw a disparaging comment he made in parliament about former Australian Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg as part of a public spat over his intervention in at least two immigration cases. The stoush between the two former Queensland police officers erupted over a disagreement over the chain of events that led to Mr Dutton’s decision to grant visas to two au pairs held in immigration detention when Mr Quaedvlieg was head of the ABF.