Referral of Peter Dutton to the High Court

TERRI BUTLER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIANS AND YOUTH AFFAIRS: So I'm also out here as a Queenslander, a very proud Queenslander, because I care about Queenslanders and I'm a bit worried about a certain group of Queenslanders and that's Queenslanders who live in the federal electorate of Dickson, because they're not really being very well represented at the moment. Their member is Peter Dutton, and he's off worrying about his own political career and not about the people of Dickson. 

 

Frankly, they deserve a better representative, and Ali France who is the Labor Party candidate, a wonderful representative for her community will be an absolutely formidable opponent for Peter Dutton when it comes to the Federal Election. 

 

But in the mean time, there's a big question mark hanging over him that needs to be resolved. Frankly, it's about time he referred himself to the High Court. The best he's got to rely on is some equivocal legal advice. That legal advice is further demonstration of the importance of resolving the question of whether he is even eligible to sit in this Parliament. This is a serious question, and Peter Dutton shouldn't be in a situation where he's leaving his constituents, and the nation, in doubt, as part of this illegitimate government. He needs to refer himself to the High Court, and if Peter Dutton won't refer himself to the High Court, then Scott Morrison should refer Peter Dutton to the High Court. Scott Morrison should show some leadership. You know, even the former Prime Minister's out there saying Peter Dutton should be referred to the High Court. Scott Morrison should show some leadership and refer Peter Dutton to the High Court. 

 

It is intolerable that the people of Dickson and the people of Australia should have to suffer under a situation where they do not know whether the Member for Dickson is there legitimately or invalidly. The entire government's legitimacy is under a cloud. It's time that this got resolved once and for all. Peter Dutton should be referred to the High Court. If he won't do it himself, he should expect that the Prime Minister should do it, and the rest of Australia should expect that the Prime Minister should do it. And Scott Morrison should show some leadership, show some backbone, and refer Peter Dutton to the High Court. Questions?

 

JOURNALIST: Would you support a no confidence motion against Dutton if that came about?

 

BUTLER: Well I hope that that doesn't have to come about, because frankly Scott Morrison should do the right thing. He knows what the right thing is to do, he's got legal advice that demonstrates that there is concern, that there is doubt, over whether Peter Dutton should be in the Parliament. He should refer him.

 

JOURNALIST: But that makes no political advantage for Scott Morrison to do that though, does it? Because if he puts him up to the High Court and loses, you've got a by-election in the seat of Dickson.

 

BUTLER: Rarely is the right thing to do determined by political advantage. Rarely is the moral thing to do determined by political advantage. This isn't a question of political advantage, this is a question of whether the doubts as to Peter Dutton's eligibility to sit in the Parliament should be resolved by the High Court, and of course they should. We all know what happens when Prime Ministers try to predict what High Courts are going to do. That didn't end well when Malcolm Turnbull stood up said "and the High Court shall so hold". Let's get the High Court to decide. That's what they're there for; when there is doubt, as there is in this case, let's get them to actually determine that, so we know once and for all the validity of Peter Dutton being in the Parliament.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you think this could eventually go away if they hang on long enough?

 

BUTLER: Look, I don't think that something of this seriousness is going to just go away. It's not something you just kick the can down the road on. At some point there will be a reckoning. At some point Peter Dutton will have to find out whether he's validly in the Parliament.

 

JOURNALIST: How could it be that Malcolm Turnbull had - he had full confidence of Malcolm Turnbull for so long, and then right at the end of Malcolm Turnbull's Prime Ministership Malcolm Turnbull throws him under the bus?

 

BUTLER: I mean, you'd have to ask Malcolm Turnbull that, but I suspect that Malcolm knows, just like every other Australian knows, that there's doubt over Peter Dutton, and the only person who seems unwilling to admit that at the moment is Scott Morrison, and Peter Dutton knows that.

 

JOURNALIST: Is that hypocritical of Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison to say "well, it's okay, you can be in the cabinet for so long, and then suddenly we're gonna turn on you when it suits us?"

 

BUTLER: Well we've had concerns about Barnaby Joyce sitting in the Cabinet and sitting in the Parliament when he was under a section 44 cloud. It seems like the Government's very happy to send Mr Joyce to the backbench. Why is Peter Dutton getting preferential treatment compared to Barnaby Joyce? If you wanted to know about hypocrisy, I think that's a pretty big question. 

 

JOURNALIST: But you guys were being hypocritical as well weren't you? Because you wouldn't want to refer your guys to the High Court for a long time. You refused for a long time...

 

BUTLER: Well the minute there was a change in the law by way of the new High Court decision, there was a decision made by each of those people, and they were in the Parliament within the next couple of hours resigning and submitting themselves to a by-election. Every single one of them did; that's why we had those five by-elections on the one day at the end of July. Why isn't Peter Dutton doing the same thing? Why isn't he showing the same level of character?

 

JOURNALIST: Poll out this morning Labor leading the two party-preferred by 6%. You happy with that result?

 

BUTLER: You know, I know people always say from my position that they don't look at polls, but I don't look at polls. I think you can't really get anything from one particular poll result, positive or negative. You have to look at sentiment over time. What is very clear though, is that people are angry at this dysfunctional, shambolic, illegitimate government, being led by Scott Morrison, and they are sick of the disunity. It's a very stark contrast to our team: stable, steady, 100% united, and ready to govern.

 

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) ... Aged Care Royal Commission will play well for the Government?

 

BUTLER: Look, I think it's actually really good to see the Government ‘fessing up to the fact that there is a problem in aged care. It's a shame that they're being so defensive and pretending not to have cut funding from aged care. Scott Morrison as Treasurer cut nearly $2 billion from aged care in his first budget as Treasurer. This is a situation where he's now denying that there are any cuts, and has been found out by journalists - including Rick Morton, who was in the press yesterday - as being wrong about that fact. That there have been cuts to aged care. So while it is a good thing that there's a Royal Commission, I hope it's not just about getting in front of Ken Wyatt's 4 Corners interview, and I really hope it's not going to just be a situation where there's more denials from the Government about the cuts to aged care. There's about 108,000 Australians waiting for home care packages, which is another concerning issue, I think, for people outside of nursing homes. 88,000 of those are high needs, including people with dementia. This Government just doesn't have it right on aged care, and I've got people in my own community who are deeply concerned about what's happening with aged care in this country. I've had representations from locals, I've had representations from the Nurses and Midwives Union, all very concerned about staffing levels in aged care. You know, I've got family in aged care, I'm sure everybody has got a grandparent, or a parent, in aged care, and of course there's a lot of young people in aged care as well, we've seen press about that. None of us wants our family members in a situation where they're not getting the care that they deserve. I'm pleased the government's looking at a Royal Commission, but I would like them also to ‘fess up to the cuts they've made, and do something about it.

 

JOURNALIST: There's a report out today about Newstart and the benefits of increasing the allowance, what's your position on that?  

BUTLER: I haven't seen the report. I think it's very clear that Newstart is very, very low. We're in a situation now where I'm getting a lot of representations from people - including interest groups like the Australian Council of Social Services - very concerned about what's happening with Newstart. I'm looking forward - if we were able to win Government, and if we were honoured with taking up the Government positions, I'm looking forward to a serious review of Newstart. It's important, of course, that Newstart be low enough not to dissuade people from taking up jobs, but high enough so that people aren't left living in poverty, and high enough so that it's not catastrophic when you do lose your job, because that's feeding into lower worker bargaining power, and some of the lower wage increases that we're seeing as well.

 

Thanks very much everyone, good to see you all.