I have sat on the fence with whether there should be a...

I have sat on the fence with whether there should be a independent inquiry into the Porter rape allegations for a week or so.

But today fell off the fence on to the side of firmly believing there shouldn’t be a inquiry.

My thoughts are as follows.

A criminal trial proving beyond reasonable doubt is impossible because the woman has died.

An inquiry with a lower standard of proof (balance of probabilities) can’t succeed because the credibility of the allegations can’t be properly tested. In effect it is unfair to the poor woman who had died.

And so the inquiry will morph to this more nebulous concept about whether Porter is a “fit and proper” person.

What exactly will the inquiry end up being about?

Is he white, male and privileged;
Has he been successful in promoting a world view that many people despise;
Did he go a private school and was he good at sport;
Did he make sexist remarks as a 17 year old;
Was he told by Turnball to moderate his behaviour in public;
Is he a good family man to his wife and children.

And on it will go. And Porter will be snared exactly as Pell was.

What was Pell really charged with?

Lacking empathy, being a senior representative of an organisation that has abused children, being pompous and having a world view that is hated by many.

What did Pell argue, completely unsuccessfully, until the High Court? That it was impossible for him to have committed the alleged crimes. Trouble was - it was possible. And it took to the High Court for someone to work out that wasn’t the question.

So I think Porter is absolutely correct in his assessment. It will be impossible for him to prove that it was impossible for him to have committed the alleged rape.

But he will be convicted on all the other charges of not being a fit and proper person in the eyes of those who now hate him.

Therefore not one person who has made their mind up about Porter’s guilt will change their mind after the inquiry. In the same way those who were convinced of Pell's guilt didn’t change their mind after the High Court decision.

If I were Porter I wouldn’t cooperate one jot with the inquiry. But I would hope that there were at least some people who could see the reason for my stand. This reason would be refusing to participle in a corrupt process simply because my name happened to be trending on Twitter.

All imo etc.