Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said a minister at the center of historical rape allegations had “vigorously rejected” the claims, while admitting he was aware of “rumors” of the alleged assault earlier this year.
Morrison has so far declined to launch an independent inquiry into the allegations, saying he was “not a police force.”
While confirming he had heard rumors of the allegations before the accusation was put to him formally in a letter on Friday, he said he had not felt the need to investigate it further.
Morrison said he saw no reason to stand down the accused minister.
“It is the police, in a country where you’re governed by the rule of law, that determine the veracity of any allegations of this nature,” he told a press conference in Sydney.
“It is the police. My office, I do not have the people or others who are trained or competent or authorized to investigate matters of this nature,” he said.
“The police are the ones who do that and the police have had these matters referred to them, the individual involved here has vigorously rejected these allegations, and so it’s a matter for the police and in my discussions with the commissioner, there was nothing immediate that he considered that was necessary for me to take any action,” he added.
Morrison said he had not read the documents that outlined the allegations, but had been briefed on their contents.
He said he learned of the complaint on Wednesday last week and spoke to the minister who was named as the alleged rapist.
“I’m not going to go into the conversation, simply to tell you I asked,” Morrison said.
“Did I raise it? Yes, I did, and he vigorously and completely denied the allegations. So that means there is a proper process now for it to follow,” he said.
The historical allegations became public on Friday after two non-government senators, Penny Wong and the Sarah Hanson-Young, announced they had received correspondence outlining the historical complaint and had forwarded it to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
The woman had spoken to New South Wales police about her allegations in February 2020 and a task force was established to investigate, although a formal interview with police was delayed by the pandemic.
The woman withdrew her report later that year and killed herself shortly after.
As sexual assault sits on state statutes, the AFP has no jurisdiction over the allegations, and New South Wales police cannot push forward a sexual assault investigation where the complainant has died.
Morrison admitted he had heard “rumors” regarding the complaint earlier this year, following questions from Australian Broadcasting Crop investigative reporter Louise Milligan to the government.
He said he did not know the “substance” of the inquiry and did not seek to learn to whom the rumors pertained.
“I tend to not pay attention to the rumors,” he said.
He said he would not be acting on unverified claims.
“We can’t have a system in this country where allegations are simply presented, and I’m not suggesting this in this case, but we can’t have a situation where the mere making of an allegation and that being publicized through the media is grounds for, you know, governments to stand people down simply on the basis of that,” he said.
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