Pyne allegedly offered to help find Ashby a lawyer and a job Education Minister Christopher Pyne has suggested that James Ashby may have "misinterpreted" a discussion they had in which the former speaker's aide claims the senior Liberal promised him a new job and a lawyer in the event he took legal action against his boss Peter Slipper over sexual harassment claims. Mr Pyne, who has constantly denied "specific knowledge" of Mr Ashby's sexual harassment allegations against Mr Slipper before they were made public, confirmed at a media conference in Adelaide on Monday that he had known the staffer was "uncomfortable" working for the then speaker, and was aware of rumours that long swirled around Mr Slipper. On Sunday night, Mr Ashby told 60 Minutes thatMr Pyne promised him a job and legal help after he sought advice from another Liberal MP, Wyatt Roy, about Mr Slipper's alleged conduct. Mr Ashby went on to say that Mr Pyne threatened he would call him a "pathological liar" if Mr Ashby ever detailed Mr Pyne's alleged offer. On Monday, Mr Pyne confirmed the pair did meet in his office in 2012 when Mr Ashby visited to collect some bottles of wine signed by the then opposition leader Tony Abbott. He said it was the third time the two had met. "That conversation was the crux of my involvement aired last night on 60 minutes," the Minister told reporters. Mr Pyne confirmed that he had raised the prospect of a Liberal National Party win in the Queensland 2012 state election as a possible avenue for Mr Ashby to seek other employment. "He indicated that he was uncomfortable in Mr Slipper's office and I indicated to him that if we won the Queensland state election that would be chance potentially for him to get out of Mr Slipper's office," he said. "Certainly my intention was never to lead him to believe a job would be provided to him but obviously if we won the Queensland state election and then subsequently the federal election there are a lot more jobs available." Asked if he intimated an offer of legal help, Mr Pyne said "no solicitor was provided to Mr Ashby". He also said he did not ask Mr Ashby why he felt "uncomfortable" working in Mr Slipper's office. "I was generally aware of the tenor of the rumours circulating, but I had no specific knowledge of the allegations," he said. Asked if he had threatened to disown Mr Ashby as a "pathological liar" if he went public with their discussion, Mr Pyne said: "Well I certainly would not have used that language". Mr Pyne said, however, that he would have made it clear to Mr Ashby that if Mr Slipper had discovered that his staff were in his (Mr Pyne's) office "telling me they felt uncomfortable" with their boss "I would have indicated that it would affect my relationship with Mr Slipper as the Speaker". Mr Pyne was leader of opposition business in the house at the time. Asked why his account of the conversation differed from Mr Ashby's, Mr Pyne said: "Sometimes people misinterpret conversations that are made and that are held." Earlier on Monday, now Prime Minister Abbott expressed confidence that Mr Pyne would stand by his denials of involvement in Mr Ashby's case against Mr Slipper. Mr Abbott revealed that he had watched Mr Ashby's appearance on 60 minutes and expressed "sympathy" for the former staffer whom he described as a "decent man". But when asked if he would seek an explanation about Mr Ashby's claims about Mr Pyne's alleged offer, Mr Abbott said he stood by his own previous commitment that he had no specific knowledge of or involvement in Mr Ashby's case against Mr Slipper, before it was filed. "I certainly stand by everything that I've said about this and I'm confident that Christopher will stand by everything he said about this business," he told reporters in Canberra. The 60 Minutes story also included an admission by former Howard government minister and Liberal MP Mal Brough that he had asked Mr Ashby to download Mr Slipper's diary, which was leaked to News Corp. "Yes I did," Mr Brough told 60 Minutes, "because I believed Mr Slipper had committed a crime, because I believed he was defrauding the Commonwealth, and the courts have fundamentally now proven that to be the case". In July, Mr Slipper was found guilty of dishonestly using almost $1000 in Commonwealth Cabcharge vouchers to pay for hire car travel to wineries around Canberra. He is appealing the conviction. Mr Brough, a former Howard government minister, took Mr Slipper's former seat of Fisher at the 2013 election. Mr Abbott said the "important issues" were Mr Ashby's allegations of sexual harassment and entitlements misuse by Mr Slipper and they had both been dealt with by the courts. The Prime Minister said Australians would be pleased that the "squalid, sordid, miserable period" was now "over". Mr Abbott made the comments during a visit to a metals factory in Queanbeyan outside Canberra, repeatedly delaying taking questions about Mr Ashby's claims until the end of his media conference. A journalist unsuccessfully attempted to ask Mr Abbott about whether it was appropriate that Mr Brough had asked Mr Ashby to obtain a copy of Mr Slipper's diary when Mr Brough was running against the former Speaker for Fisher. Labor's legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said the Liberal Party had been prepared to "use" Mr Ashby in opposition but were "spitting out" in government. He accused the Prime Minister of running away from his media conference. "What did you say Mr Pyne? What inducements did you offer? Why is it that Mr Ashby believed that he was going to be given a lawyer and believe he was going to be given a job by the Liberal National party?" Environment Minister Greg Hunt told the ABC on Monday that he backed Mr Pyne's word over Mr Ashby's "100 per cent". Mr Hunt said he did not watch the program but noted that Mr Ashby had changed his story. "My recollection is that there was an affidavit at the time saying that there were no offers, inducements or other items such as that so I can't imagine that somebody would say one thing to the court and then another thing privately," he said. "Do I back Christopher's view on this? A hundred per cent." Speaking on Sydney radio, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said he also backed Mr Pyne's account. "I back Christopher Pyne on this, not just because he's a good mate and I know him well but I back him on the basis of the affidavit that James Ashby provided," he told Macquarie Radio. "I think Australians will make their own judgment on this," he said. In 2012, the now Treasurer Joe Hockey criticised the then Labor foreign affairs minister Bob Carr for calling Mr Ashby's character into question. In June this year, Mr Ashby dropped his claim for damages, citing the Commonwealth's decision to continue funding Mr Slipper's legal defence. Follow us on Twitter
