The former prime minister Scott Morrison is facing calls from across the political spectrum to retire from parliament in the wake of the damning robodebt royal commission report.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, Liberal MP Bridget Archer and senator Andrew Bragg are among those who have suggested Morrison should resign as the member for Cook, although some of his colleagues fear adverse findings may make it more likely he will dig in.
Before the release of the robodebt report, speculation in the New South Wales Liberal party was rife that Morrison would quit parliament mid-year, although he has never publicly confirmed his long-term plans.
The government services minister, Bill Shorten, heaped pressure on Morrison on Monday by declaring any “self-respecting politician” would be “embarrassed and humiliated” by adverse findings by the royal commission.
“What Mr Morrison does is an issue for him and the Liberal party,” Shorten told ABC Radio.
“Mr Morrison was the Liberal social security minister … when robodebt was rolled out … It’s up to Mr Morrison. He must live in a separate world to the rest of us.
“ … anyone who reads the royal commission is going to form, I think, a different view about Mr Morrison’s proposed timetable for staying in parliament.”
Littleproud said that Morrison had “fairly and squarely” lost his role as prime minister and it was now up to him to “determine if he still has the heart to continue on”.
“If he hasn’t, he should get out of the road because the people of Cook deserve someone who has the fire in the belly to stand up and to represent them in Canberra,” the Nationals leader told Sky News.
“Mr Morrison now has to get back to first principles – he is there to represent the people of Cook, if his heart’s not in that it’s probably time for him to move on and let someone who does have the passion and the fire in the belly to do that.”
Bragg told Radio National that “there were very significant governance issues here, the commonwealth effectively ran an illegal scheme for some years and the people who are involved with that should consider very carefully their next steps”.
Bragg said “everyone is keen to draw a line under these issues” and it was a “very regrettable period”.
Bragg noted that Morrison had rejected the findings, but suggested the test for those in public life is to consider whether there is more they want “to achieve in public life in the service of the people”. “And if the answer is no, then people should move on.”
Archer, the only Liberal MP to support a censure motion against Scott Morrison over his multiple ministries, said it was up to Morrison when to retire, but in her view, he should go.
“I personally think it’s always difficult for a former prime minister to stay on in parliament,” Archer reportedly told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“This, alongside other things, do make it difficult for the party to draw a line under the past and move forward.”
Before the release of the royal commission report the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, asked the NSW Liberal party to finalise preselections early, responding to recommendations from the 2022 election review to give candidates more time to establish themselves.
Cook was the only seat omitted from the edict, leading to speculation of an anticipated byelection or fear an early preselection would force Morrison to reapply.
The royal commission report rejected “as untrue” Morrison’s evidence that he was told income averaging was an established practice.
Commissioner Catherine Holmes also found Morrison had “allowed cabinet to be misled” because he did not make the “obvious inquiry” about why his department had changed its view on whether legislation was required to change social security law.
In a statement on Friday, Morrison has said he “completely” rejects adverse findings, claiming they were “wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence presented to the commission”.
As the cabinet minister who brought the robodebt proposal to cabinet, Morrison said he had “acted in good faith and on clear and deliberate department advice that no legislation was required to introduce the scheme”.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, said what Morrison does is “a matter for him” and none of his colleagues “are in a position to direct Scott Morrison on how he responds to this report”.
“He’s now a member of the backbench in the parliament,” Paterson told Radio National. “Peter Dutton has been very clear, and we have apologised for what has happened to the victims of robodebt.”
The independent MP Andrew Wilkie told Guardian Australia he felt “very strongly” that the “strongest possible at least administrative or even legal action should be taken” against anyone “identified as incompetent, or acting improperly”.
Wilkie said if the royal commission’s findings were proven in court “then frankly they should throw the book at these people”.
