Top public servant rubbishes claims he cut off phone and email access to Dutton backers
The nation’s top public servant has rejected as “false reporting” claims that Malcolm Turnbull instructed officials to cut off email and phone access to disloyal ministers in a bid to thwart Peter Dutton’s leadership push.
Martin Parkinson, head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Australia’s top-paid bureaucrat, on Saturday issued a strongly worded statement denying a front page story in The Australian that claimed Mr Turnbull ordered the “swift and furious” payback against frontbenchers who had moved their support to Mr Dutton.
The article claimed that within hours of 13 minsters tendering their resignations, they and their staff were notified by Dr Parkinson that the Prime Minister’s office had directed that all access to communications, including emails and phones, be immediately severed.
The article quoted one unnamed MP saying “they just began shutting shit off ... It was brutal. It was vindictive.”
Another minister claimed his newspaper subscriptions had been cancelled within hours of his resignation letter being received.
The article said Dutton supporters interpreted the move as an attempt to sabotage their leadership push.
In a statement delivered by Twitter and published online, Dr Parkinson said there was “no factual basis” for the claims.
“Neither Prime Minister Turnbull nor his office issued any direction to me or my department about any of the alleged matters,” he said.
“Nor did I issue any ‘official instruction’ as claimed. No such instruction, official or unofficial, exists.
“Had either of the journalists checked the facts with me or my department we would have clarified these matters.”
Dr Parkinson said he had sought a retraction from The Australian.
He said the Daily Telegraph, another NewsCorp masthead, contacted his office about the issue on Thursday and was told the claims were false.
“A key requirement is that departing ministers and their office be supported and accorded utmost courtesy and respect, a message I emphasised to [department] secretaries this week,” Dr Parkinson said in the statement.
“The Australian public service has an important role to play during a change in the Prime Ministership or ministry. I am disappointed that our reputation has been called into question by false reporting.”
Dr Parkinson was Treasury secretary under the last Labor government. He was sacked after the Abbott government came to power in 2013 and returned to the public service in his current role under Mr Turnbull.
Dr Parkinson has previously claimed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott damaged the public service by sacking senior public servants but said he holds “no personal animus” towards him.