Peter Dutton breaks silence on his son Tom’s ‘white powder’ scandal on Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast – and the major political rival who phoned to offer him support
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 photographed with what was described in the caption as a ‘birthday treat’ at an apartment in Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast during schoolies week.
The photo of the teenager was taken while he was holding a small bag of white powder in his right hand, which his father said was “a big mistake.”
Daily Mail Australia does not claim the white substance is a drug.
When the photo first surfaced in June, the opposition leader’s office issued a statement saying: “This is a private matter of the Dutton family.”
Now, almost three months later, Mr Dutton spoke on the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast about how his family was affected by this, revealing that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had offered him his support at the time.
When Mitchell asked if media attention for politicians goes “too far,” Dutton replied: “I think so.”
“And I am very grateful for the call from the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, other ministers and my own colleagues who shared the same 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 we in public life deserve to be scrutinized. I would expect to be on the front page in that situation, or if it was a football star or something like that.
“But that’s not how the media works, and I’m not complaining about the rules of the game.”
He added that “it’s hard when you see the impact of that on your own children, because they know that if their last name wasn’t there, no one would be interested.”
“Tom was in school and made a big mistake. We talked to our kids about social media and everything else,” he said.
Mr Dutton said he ‘never had a single day of trouble with any of our children’.
The photo was taken on a balcony and quickly deleted, but not before the recipient took a screenshot of it.
Mr Dutton (pictured) told the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast how his family was affected by the scandal.
Besides Tom, Mr Dutton has a son, Harry, and a daughter Rebecca from his first marriage with his wife Kirilly.
Last year, he told ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet that before he entered politics, he was a strict parent because he was a police officer.
Mr Dutton said this included ‘not losing sight of them because you have seen some appalling cases of child abductions or abuse’.