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Shadow A-G takes aim at Michaelia Cash’s ‘appalling’ record
Michaelia Cash’s takeover of the federal Attorney-General portfolio has been met with renewed calls for law reforms in areas of domestic violence and IR, but it has also been used to highlight some of her “alarming” recent history in government.
Naomi Neilson
Shortly after the announcement that Michaelia Cash would take over Christian Porter’s role in cabinet, organisations like Amnesty Australia and the Business Council have called on her to enact reforms in areas such as industrial relations, offshore detention and raising the age of criminal responsibility. During his press conference, Prime Minister Scott Morrison also tipped she could lead domestic violence reforms.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus was one of the most vocal, condemning the appointment as “an indictment on the lack of talent and standards” available.
“The refusal of Minister Cash and her staff to cooperate with the investigation contributed to the decision to abandon the case, due to police being unable to obtain crucial evidence,” Mr Dreyfus said in a statement published after a Twitter tirade.
“Just as alarmingly, as Attorney-General, Senator Cash will be responsible for the Sex Discrimination Commission, despite her appalling record in this area,” he added, referring to a withdrawal she had to make after threatening to “name every young woman in Mr [Bill] Shorten’s office which rumours in this place abound”.
In November 2020, Ms Cash was also accused of sending “attacking and demeaning” messages about female staffer Rachelle Miller and using a fake redundancy process to terminate her employment. It comes after Ms Miller detailed the toxic culture against women in Parliament House during a Four Corners report.
Mr Dreyfus also took aim at a 2019 report in which Ms Cash said she would “stand by our tradies and we are going to save their utes” during a push for electric cars.
“A minister who deliberately obstructs a police investigation, makes unfounded sexual slurs against female staffers and concocts fantasies about the ‘death of the ute’ to justify her government’s refusal to take action on climate change is not a fit and proper person to be Attorney-General,” Mr Dreyfus said.
The reshuffle of Ms Cash into the portfolio comes after a historic rape allegation against Mr Porter, which he has strenuously denied. He has launched defamation proceedings against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan in the Federal Court, which would have caused a conflict of interest had he retained his position.
At the time of writing, Ms Cash was yet to comment on her new position.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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