Calls for Solicitor General to assess Christian Porter’s fitness to remain in Attorney General role

Calls for the government’s most senior independent lawyer to assess whether Christian Porter is fit to remain as Attorney General have been made.

Calls for the solicitor general — the government’s most senior independent lawyer — to assess whether Christian Porter is a fit and proper person to remain as Attorney General have been made by a prominent solicitor.

Justin Gleeson, who was Solicitor General from 2013 to 2016, called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to refer the matter to the second highest law officer.

Mr Morrison was sent a 31 page dossier containing allegations that Mr Porter raped a woman 33 years ago, but said he had not read it and instead was briefed on the matter.

The anonymous material alleges that Mr Porter raped a 16-year-old in January 1988 when he was 17

Mr Porter has categorically denied the allegations, and NSW Police have said the matter is closed. Mr Porter has never been charged in relation to the allegations.

Mr Morrison has rejected calls for an independent inquiry and confirmed he had not consulted the Solicitor General on the matter.

He said “there is not a separate legal process that applies to the attorney general or anyone else”.

“I’m not going to indulge in other extrajudicial processes that suggest that one Australian is subject to a different legal process to any other Australian,” he said.

Attorney-General Christian Porter and Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time in the House of Representatives. Picture: Sam Mooy

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However, Mr Gleeson told the ABCthat if the Solicitor General made a decision on whether the material was sufficiently credible to justify an inquiry it would provide a “circuit breaker” over community concerns.

“For example, if the Solicitor-General comes down on the side that there is no proper legal basis for an inquiry, I for one, and I think many in the community, would accept that an independent senior law officer has said there is no room for such an inquiry,” he told the ABC.

“That would be the end of the matter, the cloud over the Attorney-General’s name would I think be substantially cleared and he could resume his duties in the fullest sense.”

Mr Porter took leave after outing himself as the Cabinet minister at the centre of the allegations. Mr Morrison confirmed that he is not expected to return to parliament next week.

The woman, who made the allegations, had decided not to lodge a formal complaint to the police but took her own life last year.

RELATED:Photo of alleged teen victim with minister

The South Australian coroner is considering whether to hold a formal inquiry into the death of the woman and Mr Morrison has expressed his support for a coronial inquest.

But Mr Gleeson said a coroner’s inquest would not address the question on whether Mr Porter was an appropriate person to hold the position of Attorney General, adding that it was “concerning to so many people in Australia”.

“The Attorney-General is in that incredibly special position, and it’s therefore critical that that person not have justifiable doubts about their fitness and propriety hanging over them,” he said.

Mr Porter told a press conference last week that the matter for an inquiry was a decision for others but noted he didn’t know what he could add to such an investigation.

“What would that inquiry ask me to do? To disprove something that didn’t happen 33 years ago? I honestly don’t know what I would say to that inquiry,” he said.

Barnaby Joyce has broken ranks with the government to back calls for an independent inquiry.

But the NSW Police Commissioner said a historic rape claim against Mr Porter may not have proceeded even if the woman was alive.