Peter Dutton is refusing to say whether former prime minister Scott Morrison is to stand down from Parliament.

Support for the former prime minister to continue serving in Parliament has been rapidly evaporating after the release of the Robodebt royal commission report that found Mr Morrison “allowed Cabinet to be misled” when he first sought his colleagues’ backing for the unlawful scheme.

This week, members of a Liberal faction aligned to Mr Dutton threatened to force Mr Morrison’s exit by bringing on a preselection challenge against the former prime minister, saying the Opposition Leader wanted him gone “ASAP”.

But despite pointed statements about Mr Morrison’s political future coming from fellow Liberal MPs and Nationals leader David Littleproud, Mr Dutton was resolutely non-committal before Saturday’s Fadden byelection.

‘Scott’s decision’

“I think it’s Scott’s decision as to whether he stays or goes,” Mr Dutton told shockjock Ray Hadley on Thursday.

“He’ll make the decision that’s right for him.”

Mr Dutton followed this equivocation with a redundant observation: Mr Morrison had the option of either staying in Parliament, or quitting.

“I think, as has been the case with Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard or any of his predecessors, the prime ministers past have a special place in the Parliament and there’s an expectation that people either serve out their full term, or they go to a byelection depending on the circumstances,” he said.

(Ms Gillard was out of Parliament two months after losing the prime ministership in a leadership challenge).

Mr Morrison has been on a European holiday but appears to be withstanding growing pressure to relinquish his seat of Cook.

Last week he released a statement that “rejected completely” the findings of Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes.

News of the push from members of the Liberal hard right has been followed by further signs, in recent days, of critical support building for such a push following pointed comments from Liberal moderates about Mr Morrison’s political future.

Senator’s suggestions

NSW Senator Andrew Bragg said “everyone is keen to draw a line under” the Robodebt scandal, which he described as a “very regrettable period”.

Mr Bragg noted that Mr 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”.

“If the answer is no, then people should move on,” he said.

Rebel MP Bridget Archer, the only Liberal to vote for a censure motion against Scott Morrison over his multiple ministries, said her own view was that Mr Morrison should go.

“I personally think it’s always difficult for a former prime minister to stay on in Parliament,” she said.

Mr Morrison is available for engagements on the international speaking circuit and has joined the board of a Washington foreign policy think tank with a distinctly hawkish bent.

But he first told colleagues he was quitting in April, a prospect that did not materialise; Liberal colleagues privately say they expect the same fate has befallen Mr Morrison’s rumoured lucrative job in the defence industry, which sources close to the former prime minister briefed the media about two months later. 

“When prime ministers deposed by their own side have stayed on – Hughes, John Gorton, Rudd and Tony Abbott – they can do their successors a little or a lot of damage,” ANU history Professor Frank Bongiorno wrote on Thursday.

“The problem for ex-prime ministers today is that the dynamics of political careers have changed. Politics was once essentially a profession; now, it is more commonly a stage in a career and those leaving the job are often only in their fifties.”

Loss of salary

One Liberal close to Mr Morrison echoed a common refrain among his sympathisers, telling TND this week that the MP was, unlike other former prime ministers, not able to retire and enjoy the benefit of drawing on a lifelong post-parliament salary.

Former PM John Howard scrapped that benefit for future holders of high office to cut off a campaign from former opposition leader Mark Latham on the potentially politically lethal issue of taxpayer-funded entitlements.

(The first PM to lose out under those changes was Malcolm Turnbull, who, unlike his successor, was independently wealthy when he entered Parliament).

But Mr Morrison is still afforded no shortage of tax-payer funded perquisites as a former prime minister.

Benefits provided to all former Australian PMs run to a cost of $1 million a year.

Those available to Mr Morrison include access to a car and driver for business ventures within Australia and a provided vehicle for specific journeys abroad.

Mr Morrison is provided with a taxpayer-funded mobile phone, as well as free home telephone and internet, books, other publications and stationery for official business.