Published 15:54 IST, March 2nd 2021
'Vitally important': Australia's former PM says rape accused minister must come forward
Australia's former PM said that the cabinet minister accused of raping a teenage girl in 1988 “owes it to his colleagues and the country” to make public remark.
- World News
- 3 min read
Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that the cabinet minister accused of raping a teenage girl in 1988 “owes it to his colleagues and the country” to make a public statement about the allegations. While talking to ABC on Tuesday morning, Malcolm said that it was “very important” for the unnamed minister to disclose to the public all the information that he knew about the woman who is now deceased “when he knew about it." Former Australian PM’s statement came after Australian PM Scott Morrison reported that the cabinet minister accused of rape has rejected the allegations.
“I think what the minister should do is what Kerry Packer did in 1985 when he was the subject of accusations … he should out himself and he should provide a comprehensive statement of what he knows about the allegations,” Turnbull said.
“If he’s vigorously denied [the allegations] to the prime minister, he should vigorously deny them to the public”.
Turnbull has argued that the current situation was already ‘untenable’ and it would further become completely untenable when the parliament resumed. The opposition reportedly used the question time to ask every minister if the person is named in the complaint or not. As per reports, the intentions of Labor in this regard are unclear. However, Green senator Sarah Hanson-Young on March 1 indicated the possibility of detailing the complaint in parliament once the session resumed.
According to Turnbull, it was not enough for the unnamed cabinet minister to inform Scott Morrison to “outsource” responsibility for who was in the ministry to the Australian federal police. The former Australian PM also said that Morrison should require the cabinet minister to “speak up”.
Morrison said he spoke to the minister
Turnbull’s remarks came after Morrison said that he had spoken to the cabinet minister on the same day and also to the commissioner of the Australian federal police. Earlier, the Australian Prime Minister had said that at that time he was aware of the “rumours” of “an ABC investigative journalist making some inquiries” but did not know what the inquiries were about or who they might have related to because “I tend to not pay attention to the rumours”.
Morrison stood by the cabinet minister accused of rape and called the case "matter for the police." Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, a third woman has alleged that she was assaulted several years ago by the same person who is alleged to have assaulted Brittany Higgins in the office of then-defense minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019.
"We can't have a situation where the mere making of an allegation and that being publicized through the media is grounds for ... governments to stand people down simply on the basis of that," Morrison said.
Updated 15:54 IST, March 2nd 2021