Shuffle off, shuffle on

NEW DISPLAY CABINET?

Note: The first two stories today discuss sexual assault.

Roughly a month and a half after Brittany Higgins helped kick off a series of government abuse allegations, the AFR ($) and The Sydney Morning Herald report that Scott Morrison is set to remove Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds as attorney-general and defence minister, respectively.

Both are expected to take new cabinet positions, with Porter expected to keep industrial relations, potentially gain employment, and lose his role as leader of the house, after Morrison received solicitor-general advice on Porter’s potential conflicts of interest while suing the ABC for defamation.

The prime minister, notably, dropped his previous support for Porter yesterday when asked by Anthony Albanese if he was, “preparing to make [the attorney-general] a part-time minister or is he preparing to drop him altogether?”.

In what would be the second cabinet reshuffle in three months, Michaelia Cash, who once refused to provide witness statements over the leaked Australian Workers Union raid, is expected to permanently take over as acting attorney-general after coming on board temporarily when Porter took leave this month, while Peter Dutton — whose latest scandal involved the community safety grants slush fund — is expected to get defence.

This could leave Home Affairs for Stuart Robert, who reportedly wants the gig and once stepped down from the Turnbull cabinet after a trip to China revealed his shares in a trust linked to a major Liberal donor’s mining company.

Reports of the potential shuffle, which could happen as early as this weekend, come as Tasmania’s Premier Peter Gutwein urges Morrison to “consider” accusations by state speaker Sue Hickey that Liberal senator Eric Abetz “slut-shamed” Higgins. As the ABC notes, Gutwein says Hickey told him several weeks ago that Abetz had made the alleged comments — which Abetz strongly denies — but not in as much detail.

PS: In related news, Guardian Australia reports of growing agitation among parliamentary staffers that new legislation — which is aimed at ensuring submissions to the sex discrimination commissioner’s looming review into parliamentary culture cannot be obtained under freedom of information legislation — contains a clause in its final item that would exempt ministers and agencies from all FOI requests for documents received or created by the review.

1800 Respect: 1800 737 732; Lifeline: 13 11 14; ABC Everyday’s guide to self-care amid this news cycle.

ACCUSED NSW MP STEPS FORWARD THEN ASIDE

NSW Nationals MP Michael Johnsen has identified himself as the state Coalition figure accused in state parliament of sexually assaulting a female sex worker in the Blue Mountains last year, with Johnsen responding to questions from the ABC with a statement saying he is “an innocent party” but will step aside from his parliamentary secretary role and take immediate leave.

Earlier in the day, Labor MP Trish Doyle used parliamentary privilege to accuse an unnamed Coalition MP of rape, while NSW Police say the matter had been under investigation since last year.

Johnsen’s statement came just an hour after the ABC, which has spoken to the woman in question, sent questions to both the MP and Nationals Party leader John Barilaro about the allegations. Barilaro then immediately contacted Johnsen, who stepped aside following their conversation.

TRIBUTES FOR GUDINSKI

Finally, Kylie Minogue, Paul Kelly, Jimmy Barnes, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Midnight Oil, Taylor Swift, Elton John, and more have bid farewell to Mushroom Records co-founder and Australian music legend Michael Gudinski at a state funeral in Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.

Both the ABC and The Age recount a number of highlights of the event, including Ed Sheeran bringing himself to tears over a new song inspired by and dedicated to Gudinksi; Minogue thanking him for taking a “scrawny girl from Melbourne to the world and back home again”; a message sent by premier and a close friend of his, Dan Andrews; and a performance by one of Mushroom’s latest artists, Mia Wray.

Gudinski died in his sleep earlier this month, at the age of 68.