MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
MELBOURNE
SATURDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2021
SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s failure to sack Christian Porter; French Ambassador recalled.
MARK DREYFUS, SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Every day that Christian Porter remains a Minister is another day that Mr Morrison shows that he is a Prime Minister with no standards. Sports Rorts, Car Park Rorts, and now secret donations, there is no standard too low for this Prime Minister.
What sort of Prime Minister needs advice on whether or not one of his Cabinet Ministers has breached ministerial standards by taking a secret donation of up to a million dollars? It's extraordinary that we have a Prime Minister that thinks that he needs to seek advice from his former Chief of Staff, now the Secretary of his Department, Mr. Gaetjens, to determine that that is a breach of his own ministerial standards. There is no need for an inquiry, Mr. Morrison should do his job, enforce his own Ministerial Standards and remove Mr Porter from the Cabinet immediately.
While he's about it, Mr Morrison needs to ask Mr Porter what was the source of this donation - which could have been up to $1 million - and he needs to insist that he make that public. Anything else shows us yet again that Mr Morrison is a Prime Minister without standards, he is a Prime Minister not prepared to enforce his own standards of conduct.
The impact on our relationship with France is a concern, particularly as a country with important interests in our region. The French were blindsided by this decision and Mr Morrison should have done much more to protect the relationship. The Morrison-Joyce Government needs to explain what it is going to do to protect this important relationship.
ENDS
