Dutton censure backed

DENISON MP Andrew Wilkie will second a no-confidence motion in Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to be moved by Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt.

Mr Bandt’s motion relates to an answer given to the House of Representatives in March about Mr Dutton’s intervention to extend visas for au pairs.

“I will move a no-confidence motion in Peter Dutton as Minister when Parliament resumes because Dutton has misled Parliament and must stand down from his post,” Mr Bandt said on Twitter.

“Andrew Wilkie will second it and ALP will support. With more support from xbench and Government in disarray we hope we can get it passed.”

Mr Dutton said yesterday that the no-confidence motion was a desperate attempt by Mr Bandt to stay relevant.

Mr Wilkie said he would second and support the motion.

“Mr Dutton appears to have misled Parliament when he denied having a personal connection with the employers of these au pairs,” he said.

“This is especially galling given the fact that Mr Dutton refuses to help the hundreds of asylum seekers languishing on Nauru and Manus, who have done nothing wrong except try to come to Australia seeking our protection.

“The reason he has received hundreds of requests for intervention from other MPs is because there are hundreds of people in need of assistance. For him to use that as justification for running a people smuggling operation for au pairs is preposterous.”

On March 27 Mr Bandt asked Mr Dutton if he could “categorically rule out any personal connection or any other relationship between you and the intended employer of either of the au pairs”.

Mr. Dutton said: “The answer is yes.”

Mr Bandt said it had since emerged that one of the visas was for an au pair who was intending to work for a former police colleague of Mr Dutton.

Mr Dutton says he has not socialised with or seen the colleague since 1989.

“Adam’s been against me cancelling visas of bikies, of criminals; he’s against us obviously on the strong border protection policies that we have and I just think this is a move by him in some sort of desperate act of trying to be relevant,” he told Channel 7’s Sunrise program.

Peter Dutton