Date-rape drugs not used here: Hale School principal

Headmaster of a prestigious Perth boys school Christian Porter attended says it isn’t aware of any allegations of past or present date rape drug use.

Attorney-General Christian Porter attended the Hale School in Perth in the 1980s. Picture: AFP

The headmaster of a prestigious Perth boys school Christian Porter attended in the 1980s says the institution is not aware of any allegations of past or present date rape drug use by students.

Hale School headmaster Dean Dell’Oro was responding to claims made by the woman who alleged the Attorney-General raped her in 1988, when as students they travelled to Sydney for a debating competition.

In the unsigned statement she intended to send to police, the Adelaide woman said the “surreal quality” of her memories of the alleged rape led her to “suspect that (Porter) put some sort of date-rape style drug into my drink” while they were at a Kings Cross venue.

“I understand that there are ‘rumours’ about Hale School students using date-rape-style drugs in Perth in the 1980s,” she wrote in the statement.

Hale School is one of Perth’s most prestigious, with alumni including mining magnate Andrew Forrest, late businessman Lang Hancock and current Lord Mayor of Perth, Basil Zempilas.

In a statement, the school said: “Mr Dell’Oro is not aware of the claims made in the statement provided by The Australian. Further, he is not aware of any other incidents involving the use of such drugs.”

Mr Porter categorically

Christian Porter in his school days

denies the allegations, and said he only knew the woman “for the briefest periods”. The Morrison government has not backed calls for an inquiry into the claims.

Mr Porter’s office said the Attorney-General was on medical leave and would not comment further, “in particular in relation to allegations made in a document he has never seen”.

Four Corners reported on Monday that the woman had met with a sexual assault counsellor a number of times in 2013 and disclosed allegations about a boy she referred to by his first name, Christian. The woman died by suicide in June last year, shortly after asking NSW Police not to continue an investigation into the matter.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said an investigation would have been difficult even if the alleged victim was still alive. “The matter itself, even with the victim, probably would have struggled to get before a court. These are challenging matters, particularly when they’re historic,” he told 2GB radio.

The woman’s friends, however, are pushing for an inquiry into the allegations while the South Australian coroner is also continuing investigations.

Mr Porter’s former colleague Julie Bishop said she was surprised that neither Scott Morrison nor Mr Porter had read an anonymous letter circulated to their offices outlining the woman’s allegations.

“I think in order to deny allegations you would need to know the substance of the allegations, or at least the detail of the allegations,” the former foreign minister told the ABC’s 7.30.

But the Australian National University chancellor said the matter should be left to a coronial inquest. “The challenge of course is that the allegations are historic, that the woman who made the allegations took her own life, and now a serving cabinet minister has been informed that the police investigation is at an end,” she said.

“It’s within the criminal justice system. There are checks and balances … and I understand from media reporting that’s what the family would welcome.”