Scott Morrison has removed embattled ministers from their portfolios. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Scott Morrison has removed embattled ministers from their portfolios. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reassigned some key members of his Cabinet and launched a new taskforce as he tries to address a series of sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked his government.
Morrison removed embattled ministers Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds from their high-profile roles.
Porter, who was the attorney-general, had earlier taken mental health leave after revealing he was the person accused of raping a 16-year-old girl when he was a teenager 33 years ago. His accuser has since died and police are not pursuing any charges.
Reynolds, who was the defence minister, had been heavily criticised over her handling of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins' alleged rape in Parliament House. The young staffer said she was raped by a more senior colleague in the minister's office two years ago and Reynolds was forced to apologise after it emerged she had called Higgins a "lying cow".
Under the Cabinet reshuffle announced by Morrison, Michaelia Cash will become the new attorney-general while Peter Dutton will take over as defence minister.
Porter will be reassigned to industry minister, while Reynolds will become the government services minister.
Ministers Linda Reynolds and Christian Porter have been stripped of their portfolios. Photos / Twitter, Getty Images
Morrison also announced he was starting a new Cabinet taskforce to address issues of women's equality, safety, economic security, health and wellbeing.
Morrison will co-chair the taskforce along with Marise Payne, the minister for women.
Morrison said the changes would mean the Cabinet would have the strongest ever representation of women.
"But it's not just about the size of the female contingent in my cabinet; it's the skills and the experience, it's the perspective, and it's the collaboration they bring to our nation's most difficult tasks," Morrison said.
The rape allegations have not been the only sexual misconduct scandals to hit Parliament as the perception grows that it fosters a culture that is toxic for women.
Last week Ten Network television news reported that several male government staffers had set up a Facebook Messenger group that enabled them to share images and video of sex acts performed in Parliament House, including on the desks of female lawmakers.
Morrison said he was shocked and disgusted by those allegations.
"I was completely stumped, as I have been on more than one occasion over the course of this last month," Morrison said at the time. "These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did."
Scott Morrison during a press conference at Parliament House last week. Photo / Getty Images
The PM has acknowledged a "traumatic month" in Australia's parliament since Higgins' rape allegations and said he was considering the issue of consent education in schools and greater funding for rape crisis centres.
"I would urge that the path we have to go down is one that we have to go down together," Morrison said last week. "This is not an issue that should be the subject of partisan contest, it really shouldn't. That will slow us down, that will not get the outcomes."
