Two Top Australian Cabinet Ministers Asked To Step Down After Rape Allegations

Two Top Australian Cabinet Ministers Asked To Step Down After Rape Allegations.

TWO top Australian ministers have been demoted from their cabinet posts today, Monday, March 29, as the ruling conservative party tried to draw a line under dual rape scandals that have sparked outrage throughout national politics.

Linda Reynolds has been removed as the country’s defence minister and Christian Porter as attorney-general. This came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison caved into weeks of mounting public pressure.

Reynolds was accused of mishandling an investigation into the alleged rape of a young staffer in her parliamentary office – infamously referring to the woman as a “lying cow.”

Porter – the government’s top legal officer and a former state prosecutor – is accused of raping a 16-year-old fellow student in 1988, an allegation he strenuously denies – the woman died last June, reportedly by suicide.

Both ministers have been on leave for weeks, with the Australian PM previously insisting they would soon return to their jobs. Now, both will remain in government, handling less coveted portfolios of government services for Reynolds, and industry, science and technology for Porter.

During the reshuffle Morrison also announced a series of promotions for women, saying it was “the strongest ever female representation in an Australian cabinet.”

The allegations against Porter and Reynolds spurred protests across Australia, tens of thousands of women took to the streets to call for gender equality and an end to sexual violence.

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