Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton has broken his silence on the impact of his son’s “white powder” scandal and the unexpected support he received from his biggest rival.
Tom Dutton, 18, was pictured with what was described in one caption as a “birthday present” at a Surfer’s Paradise apartment on the Gold Coast during school week.
The teenager’s photo was taken while he was holding a bag containing white powder in his right hand, which his father said was “a serious mistake.”
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting the white substance is a drug.
When the photograph first surfaced in June, the opposition leader’s office issued a statement saying: “This is a private matter for the Dutton family.”
Now, nearly three months later, Dutton has spoken out about how his family has been affected during the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast and revealed that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered his support at the time.
Asked by Mitchell whether media attention on politicians goes “too far”, Mr Dutton replied: “I think so.”
“And so I am very grateful for the call from the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, other ministers and my own colleagues who shared that view,” he said.
Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton has broken his silence on the impact of his son Tom’s (pictured) white powder scandal and the unexpected support he received from his biggest rival.
‘I think those of us in public life deserve to be scrutinised and I would expect to be on the front page in that circumstance or if it were a football star or something like that.
“But the media doesn’t work like that and I’m not complaining about the rules of the game.”
She added that “when you see that impact on your own children, it’s hard because they know that if it wasn’t for their last name, no one would care.”
“Tom was at school and made a huge mistake and we’ve talked to our kids about social media and everything else,” she said.
Mr Dutton said he had “never had any problems with any of our children”.
The photo was taken on a balcony and was quickly deleted, but not before being screenshotted by one recipient.
In addition to Tom, Mr Dutton also has another son, Harry, with his wife Kirilly, as well as a daughter, Rebecca, from his first marriage.
Mr Dutton (pictured) spoke about how his family was affected by the scandal during the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast
Last year he told ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet that being a police officer before entering politics had made him a strict father.
Dutton said this included “keeping an eye on them because we’ve seen some horrific cases of children being abducted or assaulted”.
A year ago, he accused the ACT government of “rolling out the red carpet for drug use”.
“It’s actually welcoming more ice, heroin, cocaine, MDMA and speed onto our streets,” he said.