Thursday, 11 March, 2021 - 13:00
PM backs Reynolds while Porter under fire
Scott Morrison continues to stand by embattled Defence Minister Linda Reynolds as she takes another month off work.
Christian Porter
Christian Porter was the Federal Member of Pearce, Western Australia for the Liberal Party of Australia. He became the Attorney General of Australia in 2017 but stepped down from the role in early 2021 as Australian media reported an alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl in 1988 which Mr Porter vehemently denied. Following a federal cabinet reshuffle in March 2021, Mr Porter became the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. In September 2021, Mr Porter resigned from his cabinet post following an investigation on information regarding who paid for his legal bill in a defamation trial against the ABC, where he was unable to disclose the amount and the contributors of a blind trust known as the Legal Services Trust. He retired from politics in March 2022.
Prior to politics, Mr Porter was a lawyer in both the commercial and government settings, beginning his career at Clayton Utz and then later as senior state prosecutor for the Director of Public Prosecutions WA.
Mr Porter also lectured at Edith Cowan University and the University of Western Australia in law, public policy and economics. Immediately before entering Federal Parliament, Mr Porter was the Professor of Law at Curtin University.
He holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia, as well as a Master of Science (Political Theory) from the London School of Economics.
