Australian Attorney General denies rape allegation

PERTH AFP March3, 2021- Australia’s attorney general outed himself as the unnamed cabinet minister accused of raping a 16-year-old girl, denying the decades-old allegation Wednesday and seeking to draw a line under a crisis consuming the country’s conservative government.   

After a speculation-filled week that has roiled Australian politics, 50-year-old Christian Porter -- the government’s top lawyer and a former state prosecutor -- tearfully denied wrongdoing, saying “what is being alleged did not happen”.   

He stands accused of raping a fellow student in 1988 while they attended a debating competition at the University of Sydney. 

 
Porter insisted he would not step down, but would take a few “short weeks” off to deal with the mental strain caused by the allegations, while reportedly hiring a top defamation lawyer.   

Porter was forced to come forward after senior lawmakers received a dossier setting out the claims of the alleged victim, who died last year before making a formal complaint to police.   
Her death -- reported to be suicide -- is the subject of an ongoing coroner’s investigation.