Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to âannounce an independent investigationâ after Hanson-Young, Morrison and Labor Senator Penny Wong received a letter last week concerning a rape allegation against a cabinet minister who is unnamed but is still in office.
The letter was penned by âfriendsâ of a dead Adelaide woman who told police she was raped interstate in 1988 when she was 16, reports news.com.au.
While NSW police have said they canât investigate the charge because the woman died by suicide last June, the letter asked that politicians âwork together to find a pathway forward in this case that does justice to [her] memoryâ.
âIn this case, [the woman] shared her story with many and begged people to help her seek justice. To date, defamation law and political inactivity have adversely affected the ability of [her] claim to be properly addressed,â the letter said.
âYou could ask [intelligence specialist] Vivienne Thom to conduct a discrete preliminary investigation into the matter to see what facts can be establishedâ the letter continued. âFailure to take parliamentary action because the NSW Police cannot take criminal action would feel like a willful blindness.â
Hanson-Young said on Monday she had âread this letter back to front several timesâ and that she, Wong and Morrisonâs office had forwarded it to the Australian Federal Police, but âthat doesnât deal with the issue at handâ.
âThere is a very serious allegation now against a senior member of this governmentâs cabinet and it canât be resolved by the police because this woman has died and [thereâs] the rules around these issues in New South Wales,â Hanson-Young said during an interview on ABCâs âNews Breakfastâ.
âWhich is why the letter was written to the three of us in the first place, calling for some type of discreet inquiry.â
When ABC host Michael Rowland asked if she found it âoddâ that Morrison hadnât spoken since news broke three days ago about the letter, Hanson-Young said his âsilence is deafeningâ.
âThe fact that we havenât heard a word from the prime minister in the last three days, his silence is deafening,â she said.
âWe need to see the prime minister today announce an independent investigation, ask the man to step aside while that is done. This woman needs to have her voice heard and this man, if he is innocent, he needs to be able to clear his name.â
She acknowledged the âcomplexitiesâ of the case, including the fact the woman is dead and the alleged perpetratorâs position within the cabinet. However, she commended the womanâs friends for reaching out and urging further action.
âIt is right for them to call on us to act because just because something is uncomfortable, is complex, is difficult, does not absolve us as parliamentarians from doing the right thing,â she said. â[It] does not absolve us as leaders from our responsibility and the prime minister needs to lead here.
âHe really needs to lead. He needs to front up, he needs to speak out and he needs to put in place some type of resolution.â
The letter received referred to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who came forward with allegations of sexual assault that are now being investigated by police.
Last month Higgins and another female employee of Morrisonâs Liberal party said they had been raped by the same man in 2019 and 2020.
The Australian newspaper last week published the account of a third woman, who said she had also been raped twice by the unnamed former Liberal party worker in 2016. A fourth woman has since made a complaint about the man, alleging inappropriate sexual behaviour in a Canberra bar.
Update: Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday afternoon that he spoke to the cabinet minister who âcategorically deniesâ the allegations.
With reporting by Carly Williams.
Need help? In Australia, call 1800 RESPECT (737 732) for the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service
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