Scott Morrison ready to make ‘difficult’ Christian Porter cabinet call

Scott Morrison says he is ready to make ‘difficult decisions’ about beleaguered Industry Minister Christian Porter’s cabinet career.

Industry Minister Christian Porter. Picture: Sharon Smith

Scott Morrison says he is ready to make “difficult decisions” about beleaguered Industry Minister Christian Porter’s cabinet career if the blind trust of secret benefactors paying for Mr Porter’s legal battle with the ABC is found to have breached ministerial ­guidelines.

Liberal MPs now believe Mr Porter’s position in cabinet is untenable and advice from the ­Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is expected to reach the Prime Minister’s desk within days.

Anthony Albanese has called for Mr Porter to stand down over the blind trust, which was set up to help Mr Porter pay a reported $1m worth of fees racked up during his legal stoush with the ABC over allegations he raped a now-deceased woman in 1988.

Mr Porter strenuously denies the allegations.

On Thursday, Mr Morrison raised the spectre of previous cabinet oustings – such as Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie last year – when asked what would happen if his department found Mr Porter’s blind trust had broken the ministerial code.

“I take the matter seriously and we are looking carefully at the arrangements and what the minister will be required to do in order to ensure he is acting consistent with the ministerial guidelines,” he said in Canberra.

“I have taken decisions in the past, difficult decisions, when I believe they haven’t been adhered to. On these issues, I will follow the same processes. I will deal with it carefully.”

Mr Porter was demoted as attorney-general in March over concerns any legal action against the ABC would create a conflict of interest given his position as the nation’s first law officer.

The Industry Minister has said he put up the blind trust on his register of members’ interests to show transparency, and does not know anything about its funding or mechanisms.

Mr Porter has come under intense scrutiny over the fund and its potential supporters, and the Opposition Leader said on Thursday he should no longer sit on the frontbench.

“Christian Porter should go. And he should go today,” Mr Albanese tweeted on Thursday.

Liberal MPs on Thursday said the use of a PM&C probe into Mr Porter’s blind trust followed the McKenzie precedent and they believed his ousting from cabinet was now likely.

In February last year, Senator McKenzie was forced to resign from cabinet over findings from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet that her failure to disclose membership of a Victorian gun club, which received a government grant, created a possible conflict of interest.

Senator McKenzie had been embroiled in a wider controversy about the sports grants program amid allegations it was used to prop up votes in marginal electorates, which both she and Mr Morrison have denied. The Nationals senator has since returned to the frontbench.

The Australian revealed on Thursday Mr Porter’s position was being discussed at the highest levels and it was likely he would leave cabinet.

Multiple Liberal MPs said on Thursday they believed he would not survive in the long term.

“We spent all this time rehabilitating him and now this happens,” one said. “So he can’t pay his legal fees? What’s next? A minister decides he’s not paid enough and sets up a blind fund to pay for his kids’ school fees?”