Mal Brough has categorically denied asking Peter Slipper’s former staffer to procure copies of the Speaker’s diary for him, recanting an admission he apparently made during a 60 Minutes interview last year.
The special minister of state repeatedly refused to explain his disputed statements but denied misleading parliament as he sought to cling to his position amid growing political pressure on the second-last sitting day before the summer recess.
Malcolm Turnbull faced fresh questions about his political judgment and rebuffed calls to sack Brough from the ministry, saying there had been no new developments and “guilt or innocence is not determined by public denunciation”.
The prime minister took the opportunity during a Coalition meeting on Wednesday to urge his colleagues to resist talking about themselves, in an apparent rebuke to Tony Abbott and others who continued to comment about the circumstances leading to the September leadership spill.
The two matters add up to a messy end to the parliamentary year for Turnbull, who has presided over a surge in the Coalition’s standing in published opinion polls.
The political storm over Brough relates to his alleged role in the downfall of Slipper and his contact with Slipper’s former staffer James Ashby, who launched a sexual harassment case against the then Speaker in 2012.
Last month the Australian federal police executed a search warrant on Brough’s Sunshine Coast home as part of an investigation into the alleged unauthorised disclosure of Slipper’s official diary.
Portions of a 60 Minutes interview broadcast in 2014 showed the journalist Liz Hayes asking whether Brough had asked Ashby to procure copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for him. Brough replied: “Yes I did.”
Brough had a different response when the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, asked the same question during parliamentary question time on Wednesday: “Did you ask James Ashby to procure copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for you?”
Brough told parliament: “No.”
The 60 Minutes exchange is significant because extracts of AFP search warrants that have been read into the parliamentary record suggest the police are investigating whether Brough “counselled and procured” Ashby to access restricted data and disclose extracts, contrary to criminal law.
The Nine Network released an extended transcript and original video after Brough implied during question time on Tuesday that his answer was the result of unfair editing. “In relation to the 60 Minutes interview, what was put to air was not the full question,” he said then.
Labor accused Brough of misleading parliament, suggesting the original material showed the editing did not alter the substance of the question to which he had answered in the affirmative. The transcript said: “Um why then also did you um assis, seek well, [plane noise] did you ask James Ashby to procure um copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for for you?”
Brough returned to the house on Wednesday morning to apologise “if my statement yesterday unwittingly added to the confusion rather than clarifying the matter”.
Labor repeatedly asked Brough to justify his claim that he had “answered the question without clarifying precisely what part of the question I was responding to”. Dreyfus said it was obvious from the tapes that there was only one question Brough could have been answering.
Brough would not explain which part of Hayes’s question he thought he was answering, and simply pointed back to his earlier general statement to the house.
After three attempts, Dreyfus suggested the minister had misled the house once again. Brough replied: “I confirm I did not mislead the house. I refer you to my earlier answers.”
According to the 60 Minutes transcript and video, the admission prompted Hayes to ask why Brough had done so, and he said: “Because I believed Peter Slipper had committed a crime.” Hayes later asked whether it was right to secretly get copies of his diary and Brough replied: “Liz, that’s for others to judge.”
Labor seized on the shifting accounts to apply pressure to Turnbull, who returned to Canberra on Wednesday morning after attending a commonwealth heads of government meeting in Malta and climate talks in Paris.
The acting opposition leader, Tanya Plibersek, said Brough had misled the parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday and asked Turnbull why he had not sacked his special minister of state.
The prime minister appeared determined to stand by his minister for the time being. “Guilt or innocence is not determined by public denunciation, here or anywhere else,” Turnbull said.
“The minister has answered the questions put to him. I thank the opposition for their interest in this matter. And they should understand that the facts relating to the Ashby affair occurred some years ago ... There have been no new developments, no changes or additions to that material.”
After putting eight questions to Brough and four to Turnbull, two of which were ruled out of order, Labor unsuccessfully sought to suspend question time to move a motion censuring the prime minister for his “atrocious judgment”.
The deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, had earlier called for Brough to be afforded “due process” and said she did not believe the minister had misled parliament.
Bishop and Abbott, meanwhile, have publicly offered different versions of the events that led to the former prime minister being ousted from the Liberal leadership in September.
A report published by Fairfax Media on Wednesday indicated the former treasurer, Joe Hockey, had modelled a 15% goods and services tax, and the proposal was now sitting on the desk of the current treasurer, Scott Morrison.
The GST was mentioned during the Coalition’s final party room meeting of the year, with one MP warning ministers of the political perils of increasing the consumption tax.
Turnbull told the meeting the government was “not seeking to raise revenue to chase spending”. He said the public accepted the tax system was outdated, but the purpose of any changes would be to encourage people to work, save and invest.
In a message to government MPs who revived discussion about the leadership tensions, Turnbull said: “The less we talk about ourselves, the more we talk about the people who elect us, the better.”
