Australia news LIVE Christian Porter resigns from federal cabinet Victoria release COVID-19 roadmap NSW eases rules for hotspot LGAs

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Christian Porter has resigned as a minister after he accepted money from unknown sources through a trust arrangement for his legal battle against the ABC.

Mr Porter was industry, science and technology minister and a former attorney-general.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor will act in Mr Porter’s portfolios.

Mr Porter released a statement after Mr Morrison’s press conference to confirm he planned to run at the next election to remain as the Member for Pearce.

Here is the PM:

“In relation to Minister Porter over the course of the last few days, and in the discussions that we have had, the inability for him to be able to practically provide further information because of the nature of those arrangements, if we were able to do that, that would allow the Minister to conclusively rule out a perceived conflict, and as a result of him acknowledging that, he has this afternoon taken the appropriate course of action to uphold those standards by tendering his resignation as a minister this afternoon, and I have accepted his resignation. His actions have been about upholding the standards.”

In case you missed it earlier, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison held a press conference at Kirribilli House in Sydney where he announced former attorney-general Christian Porter was quitting as Science and Industry Minister.

Mr Porter resigned from the front bench after he accepted money from unknown sources through a trust arrangement for his legal battle against the ABC. Mr Porter has been unable to identify the donors behind the blind trust.

His reason for resigning, in Mr Morrison's words, was "the inability for him to be able to practically provide further information because of the nature of those arrangements".

Mr Morrison at the press conference on Sunday afternoon where he announced Mr Porter had quit his job. Credit:Edwina Pickles

"If we were able to do that, that would allow the Minister to conclusively rule out a perceived conflict, and as a result of him acknowledging [his inability to identify the donors] he has this afternoon taken the appropriate course of action to uphold those standards by tendering his resignation as a minister this afternoon, and I have accepted his resignation," Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister insisted that by resigning Mr Porter was "upholding the standards" of being a minister.

In a statement Mr Porter said he was provided an assurance that none of the anonymous financial contributors were lobbyists or prohibited foreign entities.

“They contributed to a trust on the basis of confidentiality and a belief that their contribution would remain confidential within the rules of disclosure,” he said.

Asked whether Mr Porter should resign from Parliament over the matter, Mr Morrison said: "I am not the custodian of the Parliament."

Mr Morrison avoided directly endorsing Mr Porter's re-election bid, saying it was a matter for Liberal party preselectors in Western Australia.

Read the full story here.

Victoria’s business lobby groups say they are bitterly disappointed at the prospect of several more weeks of shuttered outlets and billions of dollars more trade lost under the state government’s “road map” for re-opening that was announced earlier.

Shop workers are bracing for a surge in customer aggression, according to the retail lobby, if they have to exclude unvaccinated customers and the Australian Retailers Association wants certainty on what expectations will be placed on businesses.

A pedestrian walking past the Young & Jackson pub in Melbourne.Credit:Jason South

The $12 billion events industry says it has been completely overlooked in the road map and the pubs lobby, the Australian Hotels Association, says it was “gutted” by today's announcement.

The association said the restrictions on patron numbers and the continued ban on indoor service left Victorian publicans behind their NSW counterparts who can open - outdoors and in - when 70 per cent of that state’s adults are double-dosed.

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the road map failed to deliver the certainty that the sector had been clamouring for with the chamber’s chief executive Paul Guerra describing the plan as “a road map full of roadblocks”.

“Every Victorian deserves to understand why the settings in NSW that enables them to open up at 70 per cent double vaxxed and give them a path forward is so fundamentally different to what Victorians got delivered today,” Mr Guerra said.

“We've done lockdowns for too long. We need a path out of this and today's announcement did not give us the clarity, did not give us the certainty, did not give us the hope that we needed to get out of this current situation.”

The hotel association’s Victorian president David Canny said the majority of Victorian pubs were willing to have their staff enforce vaccine mandates.

“Pubs and hotels wanted to trial the 'Pub Pass' vaccination system even before the state hits 70 per cent double-dose,” Mr Canny said.

“The government wants a vaccination model. If people can get to a pub once they’re jabbed, it will help the government achieve their goals.”

Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra welcomed the road map but said the likely full re-opening of retail, slated for early November, would mean another $6 billion in lost sales and that some shops would not survive.

Mr Zahra also called for greater clarity and support for retail businesses and their staff who are likely to have to enforce state government bans on unvaccinated customers.

“Front-line retail staff have unfortunately been the victims of increased customer aggression as a result of the QR code and mask mandates, and while these instances are in the minority, asking for a customer’s vaccination history will certainly elevate this concern,” Mr Zahra said.

“It’s important that retailers have the backing of law enforcement agencies so they can manage the safe reopening of their businesses.”

Thanks so much for sticking with us on the blog this afternoon for two major national news stories in the Victorian roadmap and Christian Porter’s resignation from cabinet.

I’m shifting to our Brownlow Medal count live blog for the rest of the evening and Josh Dye will take over the blog for the rest of the evening.

Thanks for all the comments and interactions and I’ll see you all soon.

A fired up Labor leader Anthony Albanese is still going hard after Christian Porter despite his resignation.

He says Christian Porter was not sacked, but instead resigned so as to avoid disclosing the source of funding for his legal action against the ABC.

Member for Pearce Christian Porter.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“No other Australian citizen can set up a fund, and not know where a million dollars just goes into for a private legal matter,” Mr Albanese says.

He argues Mr Porter should resign from Parliament. He says he doesn’t buy Mr Morrison’s suggestion that it is now a matter for Parliament and the people of Pearce, who Mr Porter represents.

Scott Morrison, as the Prime Minister of the country, has an obligation to make sure [contributions are properly disclosed] occurs as well.

The fact is that Christian Porter was the chief law officer of the land, appointed by Scott Morrison. And with today’s actions and the failure to disclose, he shows he’s not fit to be a member of parliament.

He says Mr Morrison’s appointment of Energy Minister Angus Taylor to act in Mr Porter’s stead as industry minister shows the Prime Minister “fails the laugh test” because of other accusations against Mr Taylor.

Now former-minister Christian Porter has released a lengthy statement attacking the ABC for subjecting him to what Mr Porter called a “trial by media” that unleashed a “mob” against him.

Mr Porter resigned from Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s frontbench on Sunday.

Mr Porter’s statement said he will not step down from his seat and has nominated for preselection to be the Liberal candidate at the next election. It said he was provided an assurance none of the anonymous financial contributors were lobbyists or prohibited foreign entities.

Member for Pearce Christian Porter.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“They contributed to a trust on the basis of confidentiality and a belief that their contribution would remain confidential within the rules of disclosure.

“Whilst I have no right of access to the funding or conduct of the trust, on my request the trustee provided me an assurance that none of the contributors were lobbyists or prohibited foreign entities. This additional information was provided as part of my ministerial disclosure.

“No doubt the desire of some, possibly many, of those contributors to remain anonymous was driven by a natural desire to avoid the inevitable fact that for supporting me, the trial by mob would inevitably turn on them if they were identified.

“Facing a false allegation is an experience that places your family, friends and staff under enormous and cruel pressure. It has resulted in constant abuse and ongoing threats. For me personally, the physical threats of violence, the experience of being spat at and publicly abused for something I didn’t do has been nearly beyond comprehension in a civilised country.

“However, after discussing the matter with the Prime Minister I accept that any uncertainty on this point provides a very unhelpful distraction for the government in its work. To the extent that that uncertainty may be resolved by seeking further information in relation to the identities of the contributors, this would require me to put pressure on the Trust to provide me with information to which I am not entitled.”

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has lashed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s leadership in the wake of Christian Porter’s resignation from the cabinet and his ministry.

“Christian Porter’s belated resignation is yet another failure of leadership from a Prime Minister who has no standards and is still to hold any inquiry into the serious and disturbing allegation made against his former attorney-general,” Mr Dreyfus said in a statement.

He accused Mr Morrison of tarrying over the last several days as pressure on Christian Porter grew over what Mr Dreyfus said was a contribution of up to $1 million from an unknown benefactor for his legal bills in his defamation battle with the ABC.

“Mr Morrison now needs to come clean on how much he knew about this secret fund, and he still needs to demand Mr Porter come clean on the source of his donations.

“The Australian people need to know who funded this trust, how much they gave, and what they expected to get in return for these donations.”

Mr Morrison has declined to directly endorse Mr Porter for preselection in his WA electorate of Pearce, which has been made more marginal by a redistribution.

Asked whether he will be the Liberal candidate for the seat, Mr Morrison draws a contrast with the debacle that has engulfed the Labor Party in the electorate of Fowler.

In that seat, a retiring MP had wanted his seat to go to a local lawyer from the Vietnamese community.

Under a factional deal, it will instead go to Senator Kristina Kenneally.

On Mr Porter, Mr Morrison said:

If he wishes to stand again I’m sure he will put himself forward to the selectors that Pearce for the Liberal Party and in our party though selectors will make those decisions. This isn’t Fowler. This isn’t some deal in Fowler we are talking about.

Click here to read the story.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is asked whether Christian Porter should remain in Parliament while he cannot say the ultimate source of money that he has received towards his legal bills.

He does not directly address the question, saying “what Mr Porter does not is a matter for him, he’s not a member of my cabinet”.

Well, you are now talking about a different set of issues which relates to the Parliament and I am not the custodian of the Parliament. The Parliament is the custodian of the Parliament. I am the custodian of ministerial standards and I have acted in accordance with those ministerial standards. I take them very seriously.

Mr Morrison says that the people of Pearce, the WA electorate that Mr Porter represents, are his boss.

“He will go back to doing that job.”

Click here to read the story.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says that he has not yet received the advice that he sought from his department about whether Christian Porter breached ministerial standards.

“What I would call it is the minister being the beneficiary of an arrangement that prevents him from being able to disclose to me in a way that would allow him to satisfy that he does not have a conflict of interest or a perceived conflict of interest,” Mr Morrison says in Sydney.

He says Mr Porter has upheld the ministerial standards by resigning and says the pair had discussions and Mr Porter contemplated his position over the last couple of days.

“It is a blind trust. He cannot disclose to me who those donors are,” Mr Morrison said.

“The issue for the Prime Minister is about whether a minister is in a position to ensure that he can satisfy himself that he doesn’t have a conflict of interest, perceived or otherwise, and so the minister has taken a decision which respect that standard.”

Click here to read the story.

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