Ashby in support of under fire Coast MP Mal Brough

They are also exploiting anxiety within the Coalition about Mr Turnbull’s decision to restore Mr Brough to the ministry while the police investigation is ongoing.

FEDERAL Police last week raided Mr Brough’s Queensland home and the residence of former Speaker Peter Slipper’s staffer James Ashby, amid allegations Mr Slipper’s diary was illegally copied in 2012.

Brough told parliament he would not quit his ministerial position and stood by his denials of Clive Palmer’s claims about an April 2012 meeting, during which Brough was accused in parliament of asking Palmer for substantial legal funding to help “destroy” Slipper.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the facts relating to the matter had been known since before the 2013 election when Mr Brough was elected as the MP for Fisher.

“The Special Minister of State is in charge of government integrity”.

The Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus has read into the parliamentary record passages from an AFP search warrant alleging Brough “counselled and procured” Ashby to access the diary contrary to criminal laws.

Mr Brough, pictured in question time on Thursday, has denied wrongdoing over the Ashby-Slipper affair.

Dreyfus asked Brough a series of questions, including whether he would resign.

“The figures that Clive Palmer is quoting from [Wednesday] wouldn’t even cover a fifth of what my court costs were so I don’t know where he’s come up with that figure and I don’t believe Mal Brough would’ve asked that question”, Mr Ashby told The Sunshine Coast Daily.

Mr Palmer – previously an influential figure within the Liberal National Party – said Mr Brough discussed the matter at his Sunshine Coast resort in 2012.

Mr Turnbull has previously said he continued to support the Fisher MP.

“Further to that he attempted to make defamation actions against which he subsequently withdrew”.

“I have answered these allegations, these queries in full in the past”, he said.

The opposition also claimed the minister’s actions rendered him unfit to retain his portfolio, which oversees responsibility for government integrity.

Now, after consistent attacks in parliamentary question time, Mr Shorten said it was time for Mr Turnbull to act.

In the upper house Attorney-General George Brandis maintains there is “no reason to believe” Special Minister of State Mal Brough breached any ministerial standards despite being investigated by police.

Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos says there’s no need for Special Minister of State Mal Brough to stand aside, adding that the case is different from his own situation when he stepped down as assistant treasurer.

“This is no longer just about Mal Brough…it’s now about Malcolm Turnbull, it’s about his judgment”, Mr Albanese said.