It is likely Christian Porter will be shifted out of his role as Attorney-General in the coming days, while Linda Reynolds is expected to be dumped from her Defence portfolio.
The reports of a potential federal cabinet reshuffle come after Prime Minister Scott Morrison told parliament on Wednesday he was seeking advice from the Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue about Porter’s portfolio responsibilities.
Morrison further fuelled speculation he would strip Porter from the Attorney-General job when he confirmed he had sought advice from his department relating to ministerial standards.
Porter has been on mental health leave since revealing himself as the minister at the centre of an historic rape allegation. Porter denies this allegation and has launched defamation action against the ABC. It is widely considered that the defamation case could raise potential conflicts of interest for Porter, if he was to continue in the role of the attorney general.
Meanwhile, the position of Defence Minister is expected to be stripped from Linda Reynolds, as criticism over her handling of the rape allegation made by Brittany Higgins continues to grow.
Reynolds has been on sick leave for several weeks since the Brittany Higgins case was brought forward in the media.
It is expected that Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton will be promoted to replace Reynolds in the Defence portfolio, while Michaelia Cash is tipped to become Attorney-General. Dutton is also expected to take on Porter’s position as leader of the House of Representatives.
The potential cabinet reshuffle, which some have suggested could be announced as early as this weekend, brings into question Morrison’s motivation for considering the demotion of both Porter and Reynolds.
To date, Morrison has rejected calls to launch an independent inquiry into whether Porter is a fit and proper person to be the nation’s first law officer, saying there is no need for such an investigation.
And the government will still not explain exactly what the “security breach” was on the night of Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape. It was cited by Morrison as the reason for the alleged perpetrator’s termination of employment, but as revealed on Four Corners on Monday night, Nikola Anderson, the security guard on shift when the alleged rape occurred, said in her view, there was no security breach at all that night.
If Morrison does go ahead with a cabinet reshuffle, leaving Porter and Reynolds out to dry, why is he only deciding to do it now? Is Morrison, as he insists he is, finally listening to the more than 100,000 women and men who marched all over Australia last week over the horrendous treatment of women in parliament?
Or is he finally realising that simply expecting Australians to believe that he didn’t know about an alleged rape in a minister’s office inside parliament house, won’t cut it anymore?
Or is it that, with the public’s perception of his own handling of this crisis changing by the day, Morrison sees it’s no longer tenable for the government he leads to do nothing? If he wants the Coalition to be re-elected, it’s now clear action needs to be taken to improve the lives and safety of women in parliament, and all over Australia. This issue isn’t going away and Morrison now knows it.