Mal Brough has vowed to stare down calls to resign over his role in the downfall of the former speaker Peter Slipper as the Labor party seeks to build pressure on Malcolm Turnbull for backing the special minister of state.
Brough told parliament he would not quit his ministerial position and stood by his denials of Clive Palmer’s claims about an April 2012 meeting, during which Brough was accused in parliament of asking Palmer for substantial legal funding to help “destroy” Slipper.
Labor ratcheted up its pursuit of Brough on Thursday by devoting all of its parliamentary questions to the issue and accusing Turnbull of failing to uphold ministerial standards.
The prime minister insisted there were “no new facts, matters or circumstances” that had come to hand since Brough defeated Slipper in the seat of Fisher in 2013, but appeared to leave the door open to rethinking the issue at a later date.
“If there are new developments, obviously they will be considered,” Turnbull said.
Brough has come under pressure after confirming the Australian federal police executed a search warrant on his Sunshine Coast home last week seeking documents relating to his contact with Slipper’s former staffer James Ashby.
Ashby launched a sexual harassment case that led to Slipper – the then member for the seat of Fisher – standing aside and ultimately resigning as speaker in 2012.
Guardian Australia revealed in September – a day after Brough was sworn in as the special minister of state – that the AFP was still actively investigating the alleged unauthorised disclosure of Slipper’s diaries in 2012.
The Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus has read into the parliamentary record passages from an AFP search warrant alleging Brough “counselled and procured” Ashby to access the diary contrary to criminal laws.
Dreyfus asked Brough a series of questions, including whether he would resign. Brough told the shadow attorney general: “After due consideration, no.”
Labor opened its questions by pointing to Palmer’s statement to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, when the Palmer United party leader used parliamentary privilege to repeat previous claims that Brough met him in April 2012 and “stated to me that we needed to destroy Peter Slipper and he had all the evidence to put Peter Slipper away for a very long time”.
Palmer, a former Liberal National party member and donor who was elected to the adjoining seat of Fairfax in 2013, said Brough had requested he fund Ashby’s legal costs and “while no exact cost was discussed” he understood it would be at least $200,000.
Brough, who has previously denied asking for legal funds, said Palmer had first made the claims in a media conference on the eve of the election.
“He made all those allegations and I answered them in full at that time,” Brough told parliament.
“Furthermore, he then proceeded to take defamation actions against me; he subsequently withdrew those, informing the media that he was handing out an olive branch. I have answered these queries, these allegations in full in the past.”
Dreyfus asked whether Brough’s actions were appropriate and in keeping with the standards he would enforce as the minister responsible for government integrity.
Brough said: “Integrity is uppermost in everything that I have ever done and that I will always continue to do.”
After asking seven questions of Brough and two of Turnbull, Labor sought to cut short question time to move a motion censuring the prime minister for a “complete lack of judgment” in appointing the special minister of state when fully aware of the Ashby affair.
The government used its numbers to prevent the debate and defeat the suspension motion, which also criticised Turnbull’s “failure to show leadership and dismiss or even stand aside the special minister of state from his ministerial responsibilities”.
The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said the focus on Brough carried extra significance because he was the minister responsible for government integrity.
“I think that it’s not just a matter of whether or not Mal Brough should stand aside, which he probably should, it’s now becoming a matter of Malcolm Turnbull’s judgment on why he won’t act,” he told reporters on Thursday.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said he did not think Brough should stand aside while the AFP investigation was under way.
“Obviously the matter is being investigated, as Mr Brough’s pointed out, and I think frankly that process should continue and that’s as it should be,” Dutton said.
