Anthony Albanese is locked into pursuing Christian Porter over historical allegations of rape: there’s no retreat, no surrender.
Yet there is a real chance and a real risk that Labor will begin to suffer from its own inaction and hypocrisy over allegations of sexual assault and rape within the ranks of the ALP.
There’s also virtually no chance of getting an independent inquiry into historical allegations of rape 33 years ago against the Attorney-General.
While the Opposition Leader and his deputy, Tanya Plibersek, continue to attack Scott Morrison for his handling of allegations against Porter and failing to “listen” to women about sexual assault, the Prime Minister is prepared to call out Labor’s double standards.
For the moment, the government suffers from an impression of instability and the “toxic culture” of Parliament House but growing allegations of sexual assault among Labor staffers and historical parallels are giving Morrison a much-needed chance to return political fire.
On Monday, the government was against the ropes in parliament and Morrison’s reference to the women’s marches being held without the gunshots that answered protests elsewhere jarred.
On Tuesday, Albanese’s bizarre graduation to citing the Christchurch massacre in parliament was over the top and allowed Morrison to aggressively accuse Labor of double standards in relation to the historical rape allegations made against former leader Bill Shorten, and having to “clean up their own house”.
Albanese and Plibersek have attacked Morrison for not doing more when there were allegations of sexual assault by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House, not ordering an independent inquiry into the allegations of the now dead woman against Porter, and not making a frontbencher stand aside.
Both have accused Morrison of having a “tin ear” and “not listening” to women, of using Porter’s defamation action against the ABC as a cover and not looking into allegations of sexual assault against Liberal staffers.
Albanese knows for Labor to retreat on an inquiry into Porter now would signal a surrender and undermine the party’s campaign but Morrison is using the call for an inquiry to accuse Labor of wanting one law for a Labor MP and another for a Liberal.
When it came to listening, Morrison said: “Labor has very selective hearing”.
What’s more, revelations of anonymous allegations of sexual assault and grooming for sex on the Labor side have confronted Albanese and Plibersek with the challenge of denying any knowledge of the claims and having to say it’s up to staffers to lodge a complaint.
Plibersek, sounding like Coalition MPs in relation to sexual assault claims, said: “In every instance, if you’ve got sexual assault or sexual harassment, the action taken needs to be determined by the victim.”
Labor can’t back off but nor can it rely forever on sympathetic treatment from the campaigners against violence against women and the “toxic culture” of politics.
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