Explaining the latest allegations in Federal Parliament
The media has started reporting on a new rape allegation levelled at a senior Cabinet Minister. Police are investigating.
This will be a difficult post for a lot of our readers. In it, we explain what's been reported, and how the Federal Government has responded.
A senior Cabinet Minister has been accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in 1988. Police started investigating the claim in 2020. Some politicians and media outlets have received 31-page dossiers with a lengthy police statement from the alleged victim, copies of diary entries from the time, and a letter from the alleged victim's friends. Due to defamation laws, the Minister can't yet be named.
What we know so far
According to one journalist who knew her, the alleged victim was "smart, acerbic, self-possessed and quite brilliant". She met the alleged rapist at a national school competition.
The alleged rapist is one of the Federal Government's 16 male Cabinet Ministers. According to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Minister "absolutely" denies the claim.
The claim
The media hasn't yet revealed the full details of the allegation. Those who have read the 31-page dossier have described the alleged rape, which is said to have occurred in 1988, as "violent", "brutal" and "disturbing". What the media has shared, though, are details about the alleged victim's evidence.
The evidence
There exists what has been described as a "trove" of emails, letters and statements describing the alleged assault. A 45-minute recording of the woman talking about the allegations also exists. A year ago, NSW Police launched an investigation into the claims, but suspended it after the woman died by suicide in June 2020. The AFP have since been referred the 31-page dossier containing evidence of the alleged crime.
One of the most powerful people in the country is facing a serious allegation. What happens next?
Friends of the woman, politicians, and lawyers have suggested a couple of options: first, reopening the police investigation, and second, having the Prime Minister launch an independent investigation.
The police investigation option
We don't know yet what the police will do, but supporters fear this option is a bit of a dead end. Sexual assaults are notoriously difficult to prove in court. It's even harder when the alleged victim is dead - her evidence cannot be tested by the alleged rapist's lawyers.
The independent investigation option
Friends and supporters of the woman have urged the Prime Minister to set up an independent investigation to look at the claim. They point to a similar inquiry set up to look at claims of sexual harassment levelled against former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon.
The Government's response
Morrison said the Minister would not step down, because the matter had been referred to police. "We can't have a situation where the mere making of an allegation, and that being publicised through the media, is grounds for governments to stand people down simply on the basis of that."
Supporters of the woman are urging that independent investigation to go ahead, given a criminal trial is unlikely now she is deceased.
"There's really no alternative here but for the Minister to step forward, identify himself and step down, and for an external, independent inquiry of some form to be put in place to investigate." - The alleged victim's lawyer, Michael Bradley, to Guardian Australia on Monday