Court releases Christian Porter rape allegation papers

The detailed dossier compiled by the woman who accused Christian Porter of attacking her in 1988 is among a trove of documents released by the Federal Court.

Christian Porter attends a luncheon in Perth earlier this month. Picture: Getty Images

The Federal Court late on Thursday released extensive documentation relating to the rape allegations against former attorney-general Christian Porter, including the detailed dossier compiled by the woman who accused him of attacking her after a night out following a high school debating tournament in 1988.

The trove of documents includes the original dossier with details of the rape allegation made by the woman, known as Kate, against Mr Porter, as well as an extended transcript and video of an ABC Four Corners interview with Jo Dyer, a friend of Kate’s, in which she explains why she believed her story.

A number of aspects of the original dossier, including the details of the night Kate was allegedly raped three times in her room after a night out dancing at the Hard Rock Cafe in Kings Cross and a formal debater’s dinner, have previously been reported by The Weekend Australian.

Text exchanges with ABC personality Annabel Crabb where she described Christian Porter as a “strange dude” and revealed she allowed Four Corners to film an interview with Ms Dyer in her home, published by The Australian on Thursday were also released. The series of text messages sent last July show Crabb praising her friend Ms Dyer for her efforts to “get some justice” for the alleged victim, who took her life in June 2020.

The documents released were submitted to the court as evidence in the matter brought by Ms Dyer against Mr Porter’s one-time barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, who was restrained from acting in the politician’s defamation case against the ABC.

Crabb told The Australian this week she was “very surprised to find text messages of mine disclosed by the Federal Court, given my deep personal irrelevance to any of the issues raised in the matter of Dyer v Chrysanthou”.

Mr Porter has strenuously denied the incident occurred, launching defamation action against the ABC for a report published by the broadcaster on February 26 in an online article that said an unnamed cabinet minister had been accused of rape. Mr Porter outed himself as the minister five days later while denying the allegations.

As part of his case, Mr Porter submitted several social media posts and statements including from Crabb, arguing it was widely known who the cabinet minister in the reports was despite the anonymous nature of the article.