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He was accused of sexual assault decades after the alleged occurrence, in a way that makes police investigation virtually impossible. Supported by his party and the most powerful man in the country, he maintained his innocence and held one of the most important legal positions in the country, even as questions continued to revolve around him.
What man are you thinking of: Australia’s attorney general, Christian Porter, or the United States Supreme Court judge, Brett Kavanaugh?
Of course, there are also important differences: Kavanaugh was a new nominee, while Porter is a longtime member of the government. And Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, was able to testify publicly, which is impossible for Porter’s accuser, who died by suicide last year.
Still, the similarities between the two cases have upset many Australian women, heightening concerns that the Australian government will continue to follow the (now defunct) Trump administration handbook on a variety of issues.
The comparison with Kavanaugh was the first thing that came to mind for Sharna Bremner, founder of the defense organization End Rape on Campus Australia, when she heard about the accusation against Porter. For her, the American case offers a bleak omen of how the case could play out in Australia.
“I think what we are about to see again is that powerful men can get away with anything,” she said.
As in the case of Kavanaugh’s eventual appointment to the Supreme Court, she said: “The message being sent now is: ‘Don’t speak. You will not be believed. ‘”
The cases highlight the challenge of how to deal with misconduct allegations made against people in positions of authority that are outside the scope of law enforcement.
Porter, like Kavanaugh, is not facing a criminal case to determine his guilt or innocence. Her accuser did not make a sworn statement and wrote to the police to say that she did not want to proceed with an investigation. The police closed the investigation, citing lack of evidence.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other Porter supporters refused to consider other avenues of investigation, with Morrison arguing that doing so would mean “we are eroding the very principles of the rule of law”.
But critics argue that an equally important issue for Porter, as was the case with Kavanaugh, is whether the public is able to maintain confidence in him and, by extension, in the institution he represents. Requests for an independent inquiry have been increasing.
“These are not ordinary men, they are competing for the highest legal positions in the country,” said Susan Harris Rimmer, professor of law at Griffith University. “This deepening and invoking the rule of law misses the point that they need to have the highest character.”
The way the government handled the situation “undermines people’s belief that the institutions are in their interest,” said Professor Harris Rimmer. “For many women, it confirms all the dark fears they have.”
Mark Kenny, a policy expert at Australian National University, said the government’s response also reflects a broader tendency to borrow from the Trump handbook of “simply ignoring what you might call outrage from the elite or the political community, appealing directly to the people and positioning critics as supporters at all times. ”
In recent years, there has been a reluctance on the part of the federal government to remove ministers for known or perceived misconduct, he said, which “completely ignores the main concern associated with public fields and good governance, which is the issue of public trust. “.
A few decades ago, ministers resigned for declaring an imported color TV as black and white on a customs form and for not paying the import tax on a single teddy bear.
More recently, members of the Morrison government remained in office despite a series of controversies, including the public launch of a false document by Energy Minister Angus Taylor, a possible audit of whether Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton mishandled subsidies. of the government and whether Defense Minister Linda Reynolds needed to publicly apologize for the inappropriate handling of a rape complaint involving a former member of her staff.
On Thursday, Leigh Sales, one of the country’s leading journalists, summarized the situation in an interview with a this question: “How does it feel to be a minister in the Morrison government knowing that, regardless of the doubts that arise about his conduct, his work is safe?”
Now, here are our stories of the week: