Attorney-General Christian Porter, Australia’s most senior legal officer, has “categorically rejected” allegations of inappropriate personal conduct aired in last night’s Four Corners investigation.
During the broadcast, Liberal Party staffer Rachelle Miller claimed she saw Porter, who was married at the time, being “very intimate” with another party staffer at a Canberra bar in 2017.
Four Corners claimed to have spoken with other eyewitnesses who alleged they saw the same thing.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also told the program he raised the allegation in a private meeting with Porter, saying that, if it were true, it could open him to the risk of blackmail.
“It is vitally important that all politicians maintain the highest possible standard of proper conduct.” An explosive expose from @Milliganreports, Monday on #4Corners Here’s a preview pic.twitter.com/9x4K89iFoL
— Sally Neighbour (@neighbour_s) November 4, 2020
In a statement obtained by the AAP, Porter said Four Corners’ “depiction of interactions at the bar are categorically rejected.”
Porter further claimed “the other party subjected to these baseless claims directly rebutted the allegation to 4 Corners, yet the programme failed to report that.”
He also said that his meeting with Turnbull in 2017 was primarily about information leaking from Cabinet to the media, with a question about the bar allegation arising much later in the conversation.
Just for comprehensiveness, this is Porter’s full statement. #auspol2020 pic.twitter.com/fCi9qa92Ph
— Paul Osborne (@osbornep) November 9, 2020
Porter was promoted to Attorney-General just weeks after that meeting.
The broadcast also focused on Porter’s friend, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge, who was revealed to be having a totally consensual affair with Miller. Both parties were married at the time.
During the broadcast, Miller said she had come to regret the affair, pointing to a “significant power imbalances” between some politicians and staffers.
Tudge has released his own statement, too, claiming, “I regret my actions immensely and the hurt it caused my family. I also regret the hurt that Ms Miller has experienced.”
You can catch the full broadcast here.
