Porter, Reynolds likely to be moved, forcing reshuffle

Under the reshuffle, Peter Dutton would most likely become Defence Minister while Michaelia Cash, who is already carrying Mr Porter’s industrial relations and Attorney-General duties, could take on the latter on a permanent basis.

Stuart Robert has long coveted Mr Dutton’s Home Affairs portfolio.

The fresh upheaval followed another tough day for the government, this time caused by private comments allegedly made by Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz in relation to Brittany Higgins.

And it also became apparent that Mr Morrison’s call on Tuesday for the Liberal Party to introduce gender quotas to boost the number of female MPs will struggle with the response among male and female Liberals lukewarm at best.

The Australian Financial Review revealed on Wednesday that Mr Porter could have his duties diminished or be sent to the backbench at least for the duration of his lawsuit against the ABC to provide a circuit breaker for the government which is hemorrhaging support over the various rape and sex scandals.

That same day, Mr Morrison issued a mea culpa in which he admitted he had failed to grasp the magnitude of the anger among women across the country, and he dropped his previous support for Mr Porter staying where he was along the lines that he was innocent in the eyes of the law.

Mr Porter has been on leave due to the stress caused by an allegation that he, as a teenager, raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988. He strenuously denies the allegations but it is felt in government that the issue has now moved beyond the veracity or otherwise of the allegations.

Mr Morrison has received a report from the Solicitor-General on the potential conflicts Mr Porter would face while suing the ABC for defamation and that is now being weighed up against how “that sits with the ministerial standards”.

As well as the lawsuit conflicting with his Attorney-General duties, Mr Porter’s job as Leader of the House enables him to argue that questions from Labor should be ruled out of order. That, too, is likely to be taken off him and given to Mr Dutton who has been performing it in his absence.

Mr Morrison only reshuffled his cabinet in late December, producing a line-up that was supposed to serve the government until the election, expected early next year.

In Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Morrison was taken to task over the alleged comments made by Senator Abetz.

Tasmanian state Parliament speaker and former Liberal Sue Hickey used parliamentary privilege to accuse Senator Abetz of “slut-shaming” Ms Higgins, the former Liberal staffer allegedly raped by a colleague in the office of Senator Reynolds in March 2019.

“[Senator Abetz] … said, as for that Higgins girl, anybody who is so disgustingly drunk, who would sleep with anybody, could have slept with one of our spies and put the security of our nation at risk,” Ms Hickey told state Parliament.

Ms Hickey also alleged that when discussing the case of Mr Porter, “the senator quickly responded that yes, it was the first law officer of the nation, Christian Porter, but not to worry, the woman is dead and the law will protect him.″⁣

Senator Abetz denied the claims, saying they were a “gross mischaracterisation” of their conversation which occurred three weeks ago. Not once since did she raise them with him, he said.

The cases of Ms Higgins, Mr Porter and this week’s claims of gay Liberal staffers masturbating on the desks of female MPs and performing other lewd acts have stung the government’s standing in the polls and left Mr Morrison promising action to address the powerful feelings that have been stirred within women across the country.

He flagged on Tuesday he would like to see the state divisions of the Liberal Party introduce quotas along the lines that Labor has long had in order to boost the number of women in Parliament and help effect cultural change.

While there was broad support in the Liberal Party for more women, there was little enthusiasm for a mechanism to mandate it.

“Most people join the Liberal Party because they don’t like being told what to do,” said one MP.

Minister Jane Hume said a bott-up approach was better than a top-down approach of a quota. This could involve programs to nurture women to run for Parliament, including succession plans for seats in which the member plans to retire.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said while he supported 50 per cent women in Parliament, quotas were not the only option.

“Whatever way will get us there. I’m very open to that. One way is quotas, another way is active management,” .he said.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley said “I’m for the outcome, not the mechanism”.

“(Quotas) is a way to get there but how do we encourage morewomen to choose a career in representative politics,” she said.

One MP who asked not to be named said Mr Morrison’s idea would inevitably be rejected.