Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack says he has “meetings all day” and will be too busy to hear from the March4Justice crowd when it fronts Parliament House on Monday, but Scott Morrison is open to meeting a delegation “privately” in his office.
The prime minister, who did not read a document of historical allegations against his attorney general, Christian Porter, when it arrived in his office, said violence against women remained a “priority” agenda item for his government.
“I’m very happy to receive a delegation as I would normally in these circumstances,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s Office has invited three to four people from March 4 Justice to meet him and the minister for the status of women, Marise Payne, in his office tomorrow afternoon. Payne, who does not intend to face the crowd – expected to be in its thousands – has offered a separate meeting earlier in the day.
A spokesperson for March 4 Justice said the offer is being considered and they will formally respondbefore tomorrow’s march. They noted that thousands of people would be attending the march on Parliament House in Canberra tomorrow, many of whom have travelled great distances to attend.
“Given that so many have come to the steps of parliament to make their voices heard, the question is, why can’t the prime minister take the last few steps through the front door and hear them directly?”
Morrison said he would not go out to the march because “when you’re prime minister in Canberra, it’s a very busy day”, and he did not make it a habit to attend marches, but that “the issue of violence against women continues to be a very high priority of my government.
“You know the issue of dealing with violence against women and families, these are things that should be bipartisan in this country, and in most of my parliamentary experience they have been and should be.
“And so I understand there is great feeling, and understandably so on these issues. And what we need to keep focusing on is the protections, and the resources and the programs that we’re putting in place.”
“But I’m very happy to receive a delegation and I’ll respectfully receive that,” he said.
McCormack, who rose to the Nationals’ leadership after former leader Barnaby Joyce resigned following sexual harassment allegations (which Joyce has always denied), said he was predisposed and would not be able to hear from women protesting against how the government has handled the historical rape allegations against Porter. Porter has firmly denied any wrongdoing.
“I’ve already got commitments that I will meet, and I believe if you make commitments, then you should stick to those,” McCormack said on the ABC’s Insiders program.
“I appreciate that this is an important issue and I understand, part of democracy, that people have their right to march and protest and of course any submission or thing that they want to take forward. I know that Marise Payne who is the minister for the status of women has said she will take the submissions.”
Morrison has so far refused to entertain holding an independent inquiry into Porter’s fitness to remain in cabinet, declaring it would severely impact “the rule of law”, a claim rejected by senior lawyers. He has not spoken to the solicitor general for any advice on the matter.
McCormack said Porter “of course” should remain as attorney general: “Well, of course he should. He is in cabinet and he does hold that position of attorney general.
“But if the police have closed the case … we’re not the arbiters of law, the politicians aren’t the arbiters of law. That’s the job of police.”
Porter has strenuously denied allegations he raped a woman when the pair were teenagers in 1988. The woman went to New South Wales police in early 2020 and indicated she wanted to make a statement about a historical event, but NSW police closed its investigation after she withdrew her complaint in June 2020 before being formally interviewed. She killed herself shortly afterwards.
Police did not progress the investigation beyond the beginning stages, and did not interview Porter as part of early inquiries. Friends of the woman later gave police documents – including parts of her diary which alleged the assault – as well as a timeline of people she had spoken to, and her recollections of later contact with Porter.
A former boyfriend of the complainant, Macquarie Bank managing director James Hooke, released a statement on Friday saying he recollects “relevant discussions” with Porter in the 1990s and would be happy to testify in any inquiry.
“Christian Porter, like anyone, is obviously subject to the rule of law, and the police have closed the case,” McCormack said.
“This is a very tragic situation, of course it is, and of course the family and others – family and friends of the young woman – must obviously be devastated, but by the same token, the rule of law applies, and the rule of law applies to Christian Porter like anybody else, and everybody is subjected to the rule of law and the police have closed the case.”
The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, said he would meet marchers.
“I certainly will be attending and I expect many Labor MPs will be unsurprised that the Coalition seem to be snubbing this community grassroots activity that’s been organised,” he told Sky News.
“It is important that we listen to what the community is saying. That was the message that Grace Tame, the Australian of the year, said at the National Press Club. We do have a scourge of violence against women and against children. We do need to listen to what people are saying. And tomorrow’s an opportunity to do that.”
Thousands of women are expected to travel to Canberra for the main march, with satellite events to be held across the nation. More than 100,000 people are expected to attend more than 40 marches around the country.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.
