Former Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter has dismissed rumours that he’s expected to leave politics for good as “false”.
For now this means, yes, we’ll see his face at the next election.
The West Australian newspaper reported late last night that Porter was expected to move to Sydney and work as a barrister after a source said he was “over it”.
The “it” they’re referring to is the fallout from historic rape allegations against him, which he denies, that saw him bumped from AG to Minister for Industry and Science in March, and put him in the spotlight for most of this mess of a year in Australian politics.
But today Christian Porter told Sky News the gossip was wrong, that he had no plans to move to Sydney, and that he would run at the next federal election in his WA seat of Pearce.
But there’s still doubt over his political future, with the AFR reporting that one of his colleagues said a search had already begun for a female candidate replacement. Apparently several of his colleagues said they didn’t expect Porter to run again.
Porter confirmed he had nominated to recontest the next election after he resigned from the ministry in September over anonymous donations to cover his estimated $1 million in legal fees in a discontinued defamation case against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan. You can read more about the case here.
He resigned after he was unable to disclose information on who contributed to a “blind trust” that was set up, and how much, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest. Although Porter said he didn’t know the identity of the donors, even still he said he would not break the trust’s confidentiality, which he believed was in line with the ministerial code.
The code says ministers “must not seek or accept any kind of benefit or other valuable consideration either for themselves or for others in connection with performing or not performing any element of their official duties as a minister”.
Porter had sued over the original ABC report from February that alleged an unnamed cabinet minister had been accused of raping a 16-year-old woman in 1988, when he was 17, in a dossier sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The alleged victim has since died by suicide. Christian Porter then self-identified to deny the allegations.
In May, Porter agreed to drop the case after the ABC added an editor’s note to the article stating it had not intended to identify him, but Porter was awarded a grand total of $0 in damages.
In a very lengthy statement released after his resignation Christian Porter said he had experienced “constant abuse” since the allegation came to light, and that he was the victim of “trial by media”.
Despite all this, Porter is adamant he will continue his career in the public service.
