Senior minister accused of rape
Scott Morrison is facing mounting calls to stand aside a senior cabinet minister accused of raping a woman before entering politics.
Greens senator Sarah HansonYoung, Labor’s Penny Wong and the prime minister were sent a letter detailing the complaint last week.
The incident is alleged to have occurred in 1988 when the woman was 16.
The woman went to NSW police last year but the investigation was suspended when she took her own life after telling authorities she didn’t want to proceed.
Senator Hanson-Young believes the minister must stand aside pending an independent investigation by a an eminent former judge.
‘‘It is just not right to suggest that this type of allegation could linger, hang over the heads of the entire cabinet,’’ she told ABC radio yesterday.
‘‘Sitting around that table erodes the trust the integrity and belief that this government takes sexual assault seriously.’’
Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley, who represented the woman when she took the complaint to police, questioned whether the minister could do his job with his integrity under question.
‘‘I think he will have to stand aside, at the moment at least, because he’s been accused of such a grave crime,’’ Bradley told Nine newspapers.
‘‘It’s untenable for him not to, I would think.
‘‘It’s not really a legal question, it’s a question of propriety.’’
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the allegation needed to be investigated appropriately and not politically managed.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull received a letter from the woman in late 2019 asking for his advice.
‘‘She described a pretty horrific rape that she said had occurred at the hands of this person, a person she said is now in the cabinet,’’ he said.
‘‘One of the things she noted, I might say, is that she’d kept extensive diaries.
‘‘She mentioned that she had a lawyer and was talking to the NSW police.’’
Meanwhile, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has forwarded police an email from a woman who claims she was raped by a serving Labor MP.
The AFP confirmed they received a complaint relating to an historical sexual assault but would not comment further.
Sexual assault allegations have sparked national debate about political culture after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins said she was raped by a colleague in Parliament House.
Four inquiries are under way, including a multi-party investigation aimed at ensuring parliament is a safe working environment.
‘‘It is just not right to suggest that this type of allegation could linger, hang over the heads of the entire cabinet.’’
Sarah Hanson-Young
Greens senator