'Didn't happen': Australian attorney general Christian Porter denies rape accusation

Australia’s attorney-general Christian Porter, the country’s chief law officer on Wednesday identified himself as the subject of a historical 1988 rape allegation and denied all allegations against him while also saying that he would not resign over “something that simply did not happen”. Porter came forward on March 3 after pressure mounted on the Australian government and Prime Minister Scott Morrison who also backed the attorney-general anonymously. Porter is accused of raping a 16-year-old 33 years ago. 

But during a press conference from Perth, the Australian attorney-general has denied all accusations and informed that he would be taking a leave to take care of his mental health as the allegations were made public only recently after the lawmakers received an anonymous allegation of an assault in 1988 and referred the material to the federal police. On March 2, the New South Wales police, the state where the alleged assault took place, said that there was not enough evidence to investigate the claim and shut the decades-old matter. 

Amid calls for the Australian government to come forward, Porter sought to end the speculations about the identity of the unnamed cabinet minister since the allegation was first reported last week. Porter looked emotional and admitted that he was the subject of the claim that caused a stir in the political scene of the country. He maintained his stance that the incident did not happen 33 years ago and said that he had not had any sexual relationship with the woman involved.

"I can only say to you that it didn't happen," Porter told a media conference and added that he was being asked to "disprove something that didn't happen 33 years ago." Australia’s attorney-general said that he knew all he knew about the allegation was what he read in the media reports but the details of the claim had never been put to him. He further added that he would not resign from the ministerial position but instead, he would take a ‘couple of weeks off’.

“I’m going to take a couple of short weeks leave just for my own sanity,” Porter told reporters. “I think that I will be able to return from that and do my job.”

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“If I stand down…’

Emotional Porter also noted that the reported rape allegation did not warrant him from stepping down from his position. He said, “If I stand down from my position as attorney-general because of an allegation about something that simply did not happen, then any person in Australia can lose their career, their job, their life’s work based on nothing more than an accusation that appears in print.”

“If that happens, anyone in public life is able to be removed simply by the printing of an allegation,” he added before mentioning that he was 17 when he competed alongside the then 16-year-old accuser on a four-member school debate team in January 1988. Porter said that he had not heard about her since then. 

“I did not sleep with the (alleged) victim. We didn’t have anything of that nature happen between us,” Porter said. “I remember the person as an intelligent, bright, happy person.”

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