After spending months dismissing reports as “gossip”, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has admitted the White House was asked to invite Hillsong Church pastor Brian Houston to a state dinner.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year Mr Morrison wanted Mr Houston to be with him at September’s Rose Garden State Dinner.
"It's all gossip," Mr Morrison said at the time.
But on Tuesday, after months of dodging questions about the issue, Mr Morrison conceded Australia had in fact placed Mr Houston's name on a suggested invitation list.
“On that occasion, we put forward a number of names that included Brian, but not everybody whose names we put forward were invited,” he told 2GB Radio.
“I’ve known Brian for a long time and Hillsong church has a very big network of churches all across the United States, and the ministry, when it comes to the music and so many other things have been very big – it’s probably the single largest church organisation that is known in the United States.”
The issue attracted attention because Mr Houston was criticised by the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for failing to report allegations of abuse against his father to the police.
In October last year, Labor questioned Mr Morrison about the issue during Question Time.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from SBS News in November, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said it would “neither confirm nor deny” the reports.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said Tuesday’s confirmation showed Mr Morrison had not been “straight with the Australian people".
"Ultimately, the Prime Minister is not a straight shooter, that's the only thing you can make from this," he told the ABC.
