Media show trial is not the answer for victims of rape

Attorney-General Christian Porter leaves his press conference in Perth on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

You cannot fault Malcolm Turnbull for lack of agility. Since the people turned against the former PM and the party followed suit, Turnbull has made new friends of Liberal foes to sustain his will to power by depriving former colleagues of theirs. The ABC entertains his more colourful stories about the government and media. But the use of a dead woman to attack the reputation of the Attorney-General is surely beneath contempt, even for gossip queen Aunty.

Turnbull blindsided his former colleagues by appearing on the ABC’s 7.30 program to recount his support for a woman who alleged she had been raped by Christian Porter. Turnbull said that after the woman had contacted him in late 2019, he counselled that she was taking the right action in engaging a lawyer and police. After learning the woman had died about six months later, he contacted the South Australian Police Commissioner. Turnbull said “there’s a lot of questions to be answered” about the case.

He spoke again to the ABC on Radio National, where he questioned the timing of her suicide and whether she had really taken her own life. On social media, people quoted the segment as part of a conspiracy that the woman had met with foul play after reporting the allegation of rape. A conspiracy can neither be proven nor disproven and its untestable nature makes it an especially vicious rhetorical weapon in a time of disinformation.

Many members of the political media class are demanding an extrajudicial process to judge Porter. The presumption of innocence, due process and evidence-based reasoning form part of the system of natural justice that underpins democratic law. How quickly the enemies of democracy forget.

We have heard much from the ABC and the Greens about the accused, but relatively little about the accuser. The woman who alleged Porter had raped her was described in glowing terms by the ABC. The public broadcaster also called on childhood friends to attest to her good character. That is perfectly fine, but not when the ABC consistently depicts the accused as a misogynist. It has not offered Porter the presumption of innocence in any meaningful sense.

In the days since the ABC aired the allegations of rape against Porter, more information has come to light. The accuser claimed the rape took place in 1988. According to the ABC, she first told a friend about it in 2018. In 2019, she told other people, including some she had not seen for years. Later in the year, she was admitted into psychiatric care in Melbourne. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It is a mental health illness that can include psychotic episodes featuring delusions and hallucinations. People who suffer from the devastating disorder also have a heightened risk of suicide.

The ABC reported on a letter detailing the allegations against Porter sent by anonymous friends. The lesser known part of the letter is that the parents of the woman “worried that she may have confected or embellished the allegations due to her mental illness”. She withdrew her police complaint before she died.

There is a concerning decline in balanced reporting about allegations of sexual harm. The media seems increasingly reluctant to question the accusers with the same vigour that it hunts the accused. The ABC has taken issue with Porter for some time. Rachelle Miller was a former Liberal staffer who had a consensual affair with minister Alan Tudge. In a Four Corners interview last year, she claimed that in 2017, she saw Porter “kissing and cuddling” a staffer who worked for another Liberal MP. Turnbull corroborated the story, describing Porter’s conduct as “unacceptable”. Speaking to 6PR radio, Porter denied the incident occurred, clarified that he had told Turnbull at the time “there was no substance to rumours around that bar story” and noted that the former PM is not “a great fan” of his. Miller has since engaged workplace compensation firm Gordon Legal to represent her in a workplace harassment claim against Tudge and Michaelia Cash.

In a separate critical report about Porter on the ABC news website, the ABC cited Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and lawyer Kathleen Foley to depict the A-G as deeply sexist and unfit for office. Journalist Louise Milligan et al presented their case: “Four Corners has spoken to dozens of former and currently serving political staffers, members of parliament and members of the legal profession … many have volunteered examples of what they believe is inappropriate conduct by Mr Porter.”

Foley featured in the ABC piece against Porter. She knew him when they were young and described him as deeply sexist and misogynistic. She recounted offensive comments he made, including being attracted to slim women with large breasts. She offered the opinion that his position as Attorney-General was “profoundly problematic” because of how he “treats women and thinks about women”. A fortnight after the ABC report, the Victorian Labor government announced it had hired Foley. On social media, Milligan celebrated it.

Journalists can readily find people to speak against any public figure. For the sake of balance, did the ABC’s reporters also seek character references from people who support Porter?

In cases of sexual assault, there is no winner. It is difficult for victims to find justice because perpetrators are often serial abusers who cover their tracks. They ensure the victim is coerced to stay silent, or feels too ashamed to pursue a legal remedy. But the answer is not to pervert justice by running show trials in the media. It is to reform law, improve education and recover some sense of personal responsibility for sexual conduct.