Former Attorney-General Christian Porter to quit federal politics after ‘false’ rape allegation
After months of speculation, embattled former Attorney-General Christian Porter has announced he will step down from politics.
Christian Porter will quit politics and not contest the next election in the wake of a “false” rape allegation and what he described as a trial by media that saw him spat at in the street.
Once touted as a future Prime Minister, Mr Porter said in a statement that there now appeared to be “no limit to what some will say or allege or do to gain an advantage over a perceived enemy”.
However, he said he had “no regrets” about his time in politics.
He added he had given “everything I could” for the residents of his electorate of Pearce, in Perth’s north, since 2013 and to have served as a cabinet minister, including in the Attorney-General’s portfolio.
In a statement on Facebook, Mr Porter said he would not contest the next election.
“Before each election I have always asked myself whether I could absolutely guarantee another three years of total commitment to the electorate because people deserve that commitment, free of any reservations,’’ he said.
“After a long time giving everything I could to the people of Pearce it’s now time to give more of what is left to those around me whose love has been unconditional. The Federal Liberal Party have done great things for the electorate of Pearce and I know a new Liberal candidate can continue the trusted record of serving the needs of the electorate under a re-elected Coalition Government.”
‘There are no regrets’
In his resignation statement, he said he had devoted his life to public service.
“Since joining the DPP 20 years ago, with a few short breaks, I have spent the best part of the last 20 years in public service,’’ he said.
“This week however, I made the decision that I will not recontest the seat of Pearce at the next Federal Election and I have informed the Prime Minister of that decision.
“It was at the DPP 20 years ago that I learned the great value in public service, of committing yourself to work that you believe in and that you believe is important.
“My little boy was born one day before I first became a Commonwealth Minister. He and his little sister have never known anything but their father’s regular absence and so the next part of my working life will be anchored around being close to them and being there for them.
He avoided any direct reference to the “false” rape allegation in the statement but alluded to the toll.
“There are few, if any, constants left in modern politics,’’ he said.
“Perhaps the only certainty now is that there appears to be no limit to what some will say or allege or do to gain an advantage over a perceived enemy. This makes the harshness that can accompany the privilege of representing people, harder than ever before. But even though I have experienced perhaps more of the harshness of modern politics than most, there are no regrets.”
Resignation comes weeks after Porter said he’d stay
Just a fortnight ago, Mr Porter denied reports he was planning to quit politics and move to Sydney as “false”.
However, his office pointedly declined to repeat his previous statement that he would contest the next election.
His decision to leave politics followed his refusal to disclose the identity of mystery donors who funded his legal fight against the ABC, which is estimated to be costing up to $1 million.
In September, Mr Porter quit the frontbench and his cabinet position in the industry portfolio after controversy emerged over his use of a blind trust to pay his legal fees in a defamation action.
The Prime Minister had asked him to provide more information about the donors, but he indicated that felt unable to do so because he did not know the donors and they had donated on the condition of anonymity.
This week, a separate investigation by a powerful parliamentary committee found that Mr Porter was not in breach of the parliamentary disclosure rules by using a blind trust and not declaring the identity of his donors to Parliament.
However, it concluded rules should be overhauled to uphold the “intent and integrity” of the register of interests suggesting that it should not happen in the future.
Liberal MP Russell Broadbent also announced he would resign as chair of the privileges committee and has called for an investigation over an unauthorised leak of the report finding he was not in breach before it was publicly released.
The leaking of such material is regarded as a serious matter and a potential contempt of Parliament.
“This is an important committee of the House, where someone has decided to use the committee as a dirty rag and throw it in the bin,’’ Mr Broadbent said.
In February, a 31-page dossier was sent to the Prime Minister outlining the rape allegation against Mr Porter, that a woman known as “Kate” said occurred at a debating conference in 1988 when both she and Mr Porter were high school students.
She died by suicide on June 24, 2020, just hours after telling police that she did not wish to pursue a complaint at that time.
Her dossier of allegations was later published by the Federal Court in the disclosure of documents associated with Porter’s defamation action.
The dossier had formed part of a case brought by a friend of Kate, Jo Dyer, to stop Sue Chrysanthou SC from representing Porter in his defamation case against the ABC.
“I have always remembered these things. I had a better understanding of these memories, and only really understood them, once my Sydney-based psychologist referred me to The Body Keeps Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma,’’ she wrote.
“Given the surreal quality to my memories of his raping me, and the dissociative states that I have (and still) experience, I suspect that CP put some sort of date-rape style drug into my drink” when they were at the Hard Rock Cafe in Kings Cross.
“CP walked me back to my room in Women’s College … CP propositioned me, asking ‘How about a pearl necklace?’, I agreed to do this.
“He then forced me to perform oral sex on him … he had his hands around my throat, I thought that he would choke me to death … I remember that I vomited …”
Mr Porter said what was outlined “never happened” and that he never had sex with the woman as a teenager.
“Facing a false allegation is an experience that places your family, friends and staff under enormous and cruel pressure,’’ he said.
“It has resulted in constant abuse and ongoing threats. For me personally, the physical threats of violence, the experience of being spat at and publicly abused for something I didn’t do has been nearly beyond comprehension in a civilised country.
“To my family, friends, staff, colleagues and supporters who have helped me get through these most difficult days, words will never be able to adequately express the deep gratitude I feel.”
However, his accuser’s friends and supporters say that she made “relevant disclosures” to friends years earlier and was not relying on repressed memory theory.
When he resigned from the frontbench in September, Mr Porter highlighted the fact that only the original dossier outlining the allegation had been made public by the federal court but not a longer, 88-page account that he said raised questions about the credibility of his deceased accuser.
“Many parts of that 88-page document are such that any reasonable person would conclude that they show an allegation that lacks credibility; was based on repressed memory (which has been completely rejected by courts as unreliable and dangerous); which relied on diaries said to be drafted in 1990/91 but which were actually words composed in 2019; and, was written by someone who was, sadly, very unwell,’’ he said.
“This material, which remains unreported, clearly does not feed the ABC’s predetermined narrative of guilt by accusation. And presumably because this document detracts so substantively from the credibility of the allegations there has been careful and deliberate avoidance in reporting it or publishing the parts of it that run counter to the chosen narrative.”
News.com.au subsequently reported on the 88-page document, a signed account prepared by his accuser.
It outlined her belief that she experienced traumatic stigmata — bruises and bleeding that she believed were symbolic signs of the alleged rape that appeared decades after the event on her body.
“I appreciate this is not legally valid evidence, but it is well recognised in psychological literature,’’ she said.
Earlier this year, Mr Porter sued the ABC over an article revealing an unnamed cabinet minister was the subject of a 1988 rape allegation.
He had chosen to self-identify as the target of the allegation in March.
But in late May, he discontinued the case after the ABC agreed to add an editorial note to the story stating it did not intend to suggest Mr Porter had committed the alleged offence and that “both parties accept that some readers misinterpreted the article as an accusation of guilt”.
The ABC did not pay him any damages, but did agree to pay $100,000 towards the cost of the mediation towards settlement of the matter, leaving him with huge legal bills.
At the time of the controversy and his resignation from the frontbench, he said it was his intention to run at the next election in the seat of Pearce.
“I have previously stated my determination to contest the next election in Pearce and have nominated for preselection, and I have no intention of standing aside from my responsibilities to the people of Pearce,’’ Mr Porter said in September.
At the 2019 election, Mr Porter defied predictions his seat could be lost, increasing his margin with a 3.6 per cent swing to him.
While he holds the seat with a margin of 7.5 per cent as a result of an electoral redistribution, that’s now closer to an estimated 5.2 per cent.
City of Wanneroo Mayor Tracey Roberts is WA Labor’s candidate for Pearce at the upcoming Federal election.
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