Alan Tudge admits affair as Christian Porter denies allegations, considers ‘legal action’ over ABC claims

Morrison Government Minister Alan Tudge tonight said he regretted a long-running affair with a young female staffer and the “the hurt” it caused her and “my family”. His apology came as Attorney-General Christian Porter said he was “considering legal options” over allegations he was seen “kissing and cuddling” a staff member of another Cabinet minister at a Canberra bar while married. He categorically denies the allegations. The Tudge and Porter claims were aired during an episode of the ABC’s Four Corners on Monday night. In the program, former Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller detailed how she and Mr Tudge had a secret extramarital relationship. She said it was consensual, but that she now bitterly regretted it. “He put a lot of pressure on me and ... asked me to ‘war-game’ the lines that I was going to give the journalists to try and kill the story,” she said. Mr Tudge, who has campaigned on family values, released a statement tonight that said: “I regret my actions immensely and the hurt it caused my family. I also regret the hurt that Ms Miller has experienced.” Ms Miller also claimed to have witnessed an incident involving Mr Porter in late 2017 where she she said he was allegedly intimate with a female staff member. The ABC said that at the time of the alleged incident Mr Porter had a wife and toddler at home in Perth. “They were clearly very intimate and they were cuddling and kissing,” Ms Miller said. “It was quite confronting given it was in a public place ... I was quite surprised by his behaviour and I thought this was a step too far.” Ms Miller said there were other witnesses and Four Corners claimed it had spoken to multiple people who witnessed the incident, including several Liberal staffers. Mr Turnbull told the program he spoke to Mr Porter in his office on December 6, 2017, about “unacceptable” behaviour with women. “He acknowledged that, he didn’t argue with that,” Mr Turnbull said. “And I just said: ‘Look, this is unacceptable conduct for a Cabinet minister and it exposes you to the risk of compromise.’” In a statement to the program Mr Porter denied Mr Turnbull’s account of the conversation and pointed out the former PM promoted him “two weeks later”. And in a statement tonight to all media, Mr Porter said he was considering legal options “given the defamatory nature of many of the claims made” in the ABC program as he categorically rejected the claims made by Ms Miller about the bar scene. “Four Corners’ depiction of interactions in the bar are categorically rejected,” he said. “The other party subjected to these baseless claims directly rebutted the allegation to Four Corners, yet the program failed to report that. This fact usually would be expected to be included in a fair or balanced report. “The journalist, Louise Milligan, never contacted me or my office, despite my awareness that for many months she has been directly contacting friends, former colleagues, former students — even old school friends from the mid- 1980s — asking for rumours and negative comment about me.” Mr Porter also said Mr Turnbull “often summoned ministers in frustration about the amount of detail leaking from his Cabinet”. “I had one such meeting in early December 2017 ... and towards the end of that meeting he queried whether there was any accuracy to what he described as another story he had heard, the answer was no to both of these things. “Malcolm then promoted me to Attorney-General less than two weeks later. In my time as AG I never had any complaint or any suggestion of any problem from Malcolm regarding the conduct of my duties as A-G until the last week of his prime ministership when we had a significant disagreement over the Peter Dutton citizenship issue.” In late January this year, Mr Porter revealed he had split from his wife Jennifer after 13 years of marriage. “It is a mutual decision and no third parties are involved,” he said in a statement. Ms Miller said she felt like she was an “ornament” to Mr Tudge, particularly when she attended the Press Gallery Mid-Winter Ball with him. Mr Tudge was a vocal critic of the Same-Sex Marriage Bill. “It upset me to hear (Mr Tudge) actively speak in Parliament and express a view that children to have the right upbringing need to have a traditional environment,” she said. Mr Turnbull introduced a “bonk ban” on sexual relationships within ministerial offices after it become public that deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce was to have a child with his former press secretary Vikki Campion Mr Turnbull said the attitudes to women in Parliament were horrible. “Attitudes towards women remind me of the corporate scene 40 years ago,” he said.Ms Miller said she left Parliament after eight years because she felt like “damaged goods”. “What I am trying to do is stand up for myself,” she said. “This is not OK and the culture is not OK and there should be something done about it.” The West Australian contacted the Prime Minister’s office tonight for comment.