Scott Morrison backs Peter Dutton after Senate inquiry finds he misled Parliament over au pairs scandal

Updated

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he has full confidence in Peter Dutton, despite calls for the Home Affairs Minister to be stood down over the European au pair saga.

Key points: Senate inquiry found Peter Dutton misled Parliament by denying personal connections to families for whom two au pairs wanted to work

Scott Morrison says there is no need to sack his Home Affairs Minister over this inquiry's findings

The Greens tried to move a motion of no confidence in Mr Dutton, but did not succeed

A Labor/Greens-dominated Senate inquiry has found Mr Dutton misled Parliament by denying he had personal connections to the families wanting to host two women he released from immigration detention.

The Opposition is calling on the Prime Minister to sack Mr Dutton, but Mr Morrison told Channel Nine there was no need.

"Labor Party's about stopping au pairs. We're about stopping boats, criminals, bikie gangs," he said.

"If the Labor Party thinks that the worst thing that can happen in Australia is an au pair comes and reads you a bedtime story, then that tells you everything you need to know about their views on national security."

The inquiry was examining two cases where Mr Dutton intervened to assist with visas for women visiting Australia on tourist visas who intended to work as au pairs.

In June 2015, a former Queensland police officer who served alongside Mr Dutton 20 years ago contacted the Minister's office requesting help in the case of an Italian woman detained at Brisbane airport.

A second case caught Mr Dutton's attention in November 2015, when AFL boss Gillon McLachlan contacted the Minister's office on behalf of his second cousin, when a French woman hoping to work for him was detained at Adelaide airport.

"It is the view of the committee that Minister Dutton had a clear personal connection and existing relationship with the intended employer of the au pair in the Brisbane case," the committee's report found.

"Given his definitive answer in the House of Representatives, it is the view of the committee the Minister misled Parliament in relation to this matter."

Greens fail in bid to bring on no-confidence vote

Greens MP Adam Bandt tried to move a motion of no confidence in Mr Dutton in Parliament on Thursday.

The vote did not eventuate, after a motion to suspend standing orders failed 67 votes to 68.

In arguing for the House of Representatives to deal with the issue, Mr Bandt said Mr Dutton was no longer fit to sit on the Government's front bench.

"This is not about whether you agree with the Government's border policy ... this is not about whether in fact you even agree with the decisions the Minister has made," he said.

"This is about whether Ministers in this Government can be trusted to tell the truth to the House."

After the vote failed, Mr Bandt said it was unfair that Mr Dutton's own vote may have been the one that gave the Government a majority in deciding whether or not to suspend standing orders for a no-confidence motion.

"There was only one vote in it, and that was Peter Dutton's. You shouldn't be able to rely on your own vote to avoid a vote of no confidence," he said.

Labor concerned emails delivered late

Labor has been critical of how late the inquiry received 169 pages of departmental emails about Mr Dutton's ministerial interventions.

Senator Louise Pratt, who chaired the inquiry, said the documents were delivered to the Parliament too late for the committee to examine some of the facts.

This included an email from one case showing Mr Dutton signed the official ministerial intervention instrument three days after he officially intervened and backdated the document.

"It's very hard for us now to be able to inquire into that because that evidence came in after we reported, but frankly it seems pretty extraordinary to me," Senator Pratt said.

She said it was clear Mr Dutton had personal connections to the two cases, and misled Parliament when he said he did not.

"The simple fact is he should not be intervening for his mates when everyone else with very clear humanitarian cases are waiting in a queue," she said.

Shadow immigration minister Shayne Neumann also pointed out that in one case there was an acting minister in place because Mr Dutton was about to travel overseas, and yet Mr Dutton intervened anyway.

"The level of service is something the public would be amazed about," Mr Neumann said.

"The claim he has no personal connection with these people just beggars belief."

Topics: federal-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, immigration, community-and-society, australia

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