Peter Dutton breaks silence on son Tom’s ‘white powder’ photo scandal

Peter Dutton has spoken out about his son’s ‘white powder’ photo scandal, revealing he had received support from some unexpected quarters after it sparked intense media scrutiny.

Speaking on the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast, the Federal Opposition Leader acknowledged his son, Tom Dutton, had made a “bad mistake”.

Tom was photographed holding a clear zip lock bag containing a white substance.

The photo was taken during Schoolies in Surfer’s Paradise and posted to the Snapchat account of one of his friends, with the caption “Birthday day treat. Hello how u going (sic)“.

The photo was quickly deleted — but not before it was screenshotted and widely circulated, and then picked up by the media in June.

The Nightly does not suggest the bag contains drugs or any other illicit substance.

At the time, Mr Dutton’s office issued a one-sentence statement to say: “This is a private matter for the Dutton family”.

Nearly three months later, he has now revealed he had received support from across the political spectrum in the wake of the media furore.

He agreed with Mitchell that sometimes media attention on politicians went too far.

“I think we do, and to the credit of — I was very grateful for — a call from the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, other ministers, and my own colleagues who shared that view,” Mr Dutton, a former Queensland police detective, said.

“I think those of us who are in public life deserve to be scrutinised and I would expect to be on the front page in that circumstance or if it was a footy star or something, but look that’s not how the media operates, and I’m not complaining about the rules of the game but when you see that impact on your own kids, that’s unfortunate.”

“It’s tough because they know that but for their surname nobody would be interested. “

Mr Dutton said his son was at Schoolies when the photo was captured and made a “bad mistake”.

“Tom was at Schoolies and made a bad mistake, and we’ve spoken to our kids about social media and the rest of it. I’ve never had a day’s trouble with any of our kids.

“I’m very proud of who they are, but it pains me that a decision that I’ve made puts them in the spotlight. But that’s the reality of this job.”

Mr Dutton said he was proud of his kids and who they are but “It pains me that a decision I’ve made puts them in the spotlight.“