Dutton’s call on Scomo’s future

Peter Dutton has ruled out asking for Scott Morrison’s resignation after scathing findings into the failed robodebt scheme were handed down, bemoaning the “politicisation” of the report.

The Liberal Party leader was greeted by a standing ovation as he addressed party faithful at the LNP State Conference in Brisbane at the weekend.

During his speech, Mr Dutton accused the sitting government of leading the country “down the path of division” with the upcoming Voice to parliament referendum.

“We need practical action,” he told thousands of supporters.

“We are proposing a path of unity, that is first achieved by the Prime Minister stepping back from what he sees as his moment in history.”

But the conference has been overshadowed by a bruising week for the party, after three former Liberal ministers and one sitting MP were slammed in the Royal Commission’s findings on the Robodebt scheme.

Commissioner Catherine Holmes SC, a former Chief Justice of the Queensland Supreme Court, found the former prime minister and MPs Stuart Robert, Alan Tudge, and Christian Porter were all responsible for some aspect of the botched $750m debt recovery program.

It was branded a “crude and cruel mechanism” which made people feel like “criminals”.

Commissioner Holmes found Mr Morrison had failed to meet his ministerial responsibilities in his capacity as social services minister at the time in revealing what robodebt actually entailed.

But Mr Dutton seemed to brush off suggestions Mr Morrison should go, instead cautioning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Government Services Minister Bill Shorten against their “glee” and politicisation of the findings.

He instead pointed to statements Mr Morrison and the other ministers had made at the time the findings were handed down.

“When the problems were brought to the attention of the government at the time, the program was stopped,” Mr Dutton told reporters.

“I’m sorry to those people adversely affected, I truly am.”

The unlawful scheme, which ran from 2015 to 2019 under the former Coalition government, was set up to recover alleged Centrelink debts using an automated system to match people’s tax and Centrelink data.

Hundreds of thousands Australians were wrongly stung by the program.

On Saturday, Mr Dutton said Mr Shorten’s attempts to politicise the findings had been pulled up in federal parliament, including “inappropriate” statements he had made about the Royal Commission.

“He’s really gone close to the line, if not off the line,” Mr Dutton said.

“He’s seen political advantage in this situation, there’s no doubt about that.”

Mr Dutton told reporters his party would be considering the “serious” recommendations, including the way departments provided information to ministers.

He also took aim at the report’s timing, the tome landing a week before a by-election in the Queensland seat of Fadden.

The Liberal Party are hoping to retain the crucial seat after Mr Robert’s resignation.

“I think the people of Fadden are much smarter than that – they’ve seen the personal smears against (Liberal candidate) Cameron Caldwell, they’ve seen the political advantage in the timing of the release of this report,” Mr Dutton.

“They’re not stupid, they can see that.”

A defiant Mr Morrison, who is holidaying overseas with his family, said in a statement on Friday he “rejected” the findings which are critical of my involvement in authorising the scheme and are adverse to me.”

“They are wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence presented to the Commission,” he said.