Prominent lawyers are calling for Attorney-General Christian Porter to be subjected to the same codes of conduct as many others in the legal profession, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues to reject calls for an independent inquiry into the serious allegation that, as a 17-year-old, Mr Porter raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988 — an allegation which he strenuously denies.
But there is increasing disquiet in the legal community about the Prime Minister's stance.
This disquiet has nothing to do with any suggestion of criminal action by Mr Porter, but to the damage being done to the role of Attorney-General, and through it our legal institutions, when such a grave allegation is left hanging unresolved over the country's first law officer.
Sydney barrister Tom Brennan suggests that, rather than Mr Porter being subjected to a different standard to the rest of the community, the government is asserting that the first law officer need not face the scrutiny faced by Australians in professions across the entire community — which includes the professional conduct regimes faced by lawyers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-11/lawyers-christian-porter-subjected-to-codes-of-conduct/13235176
Now I don't know about you but I don't want to live in the land of "All Animals are Created Equal - BUT, some are More Equal than Others" (thanks to Mr Orwell).
In my profession if I breached professional standards I would probably be suspended pending an investigation, be called before the regulating body and tried, judged and sentenced to anything from being supervised in the workplace to having criminal charges laid. I would not be allowed to work at my profession until I was cleared of impropriety.
There are two other important issues here. yes Porter's character is on trial.... and so is the quality of the Liberal Party pre-selection and candidate screening. Yes I'm aware that Kate (her real name) didn't report the case initially until 1992 and didn't go to police for decades after, but its not just one incident according to other reports.
No I have no evidence other than the ABC 4 Corners reports. There is a very high degree of editorial integrity on the ABC because of the slurs and other claims thrown at the ABC. However your biases go its the best to base my thoughts.
An official Inquiry will provide evidence to the community and a final (bar appeals) decision as to whether Porter did anything wrong. If there is no Inquiry then the media will go mad with all manner of dirt digging and scurrilous nonsense that will do more damage to Porter and the Libs than anything that might come from an Inquiry.
thanks for reading.
