Australian PM backs attorney-general accused of rape
04 March, 2021
Australia's Primary Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday expressed support for his attorney-general, who this week denied accusations he raped a schoolgirl when he was an adolescent.
Morrison told reporters Australia has to follow the rule of laws and the presumption of innocence in the matter, after law enforcement concluded there was insufficient evidence to investigate lawmaker Christian Porter, a 50-year-old former prosecutor.
The girl who accused Porter passed away by suicide last year after she had opted to police and then later on withdrawn her complaint. Her accusation against Porter started to be public the other day after being directed anonymously to Morrison and various other lawmakers.
The case has intensified scrutiny of the culture in Parliament, in which a staff member two weeks ago built an unrelated declare that she was raped by a senior colleague.
In the most recent case, Morrison explained his heart broke for the girl family, who lost someone you care about.
“These are harrowing happenings," he said.
But he said Porter had absolutely rejected the allegations and Australia must follow the law.
“You'll be aware of the terrible things that may happen in a country where in fact the guideline of law is not upheld and is not supported, in whatever the circumstances," Morrison said. "The guideline of law is vital for liberal democracies, and we weaken it at our wonderful peril.”
Prominent legal representatives and the woman’s friends have called for an independent inquiry to check the evidence against Porter, while some opposition lawmakers say the allegations are actually serious and credible.
But Morrison said police were the authorized authorities to create judgments about the case, and “that is where the problem rests.”
On Wednesday, Porter held an emotional press conference where he said he wouldn't quit his job.
"If I stand straight down from my position mainly because attorney-general because of an allegation about something that simply did not happen, then anybody in Australia may lose their career, their task, their life’s work predicated on only an accusation that appears on the net,” Porter said.
The allegations date back a lot more than three decades, when Porter was 17 and his accuser was 16, and they competed alongside each other on a four-member school debate team.
Porter said he remembered his accuser while intelligent, bright and happy - but that little or nothing sexual occurred between them.
“It just didn’t happen,” he told reporters.
Porter said he's likely to take a little while off “simply for my own sanity” before returning to work.
Morrison said he was pleased Porter was taking the break.
“I’m pumped up about him time for his duties once that amount of keep is completed," the prime minister said.
A fresh confidential complaints hotline for reporting major workplace incidents has been create for Parliament House staff, the government said this week.
Source: japantoday.com
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