Ex-Australian minister cleared after probe into former staffer's abuse allegations

By Islamuddin Sajid

ANKARA (AA) – Australia’s former Education Minister Alan Tudge will not return to his post despite being cleared in an investigation launched after a former aide accused him of emotional and physical abuse during a consensual relationship.

In a statement on Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said an inquiry into Tudge’s relationship with his former media adviser Rachelle Miller found that the ex-minister’s conduct did not breach “ministerial standards.”

The two had a relationship in 2017 and Miller last year said Tudge was emotionally, and on one occasion physically, abusive toward her.

Tudge was asked to step down from his post last December as an investigation started.

“The investigation was aimed at properly assessing views by a number of parties in relation to these issues. Ultimately, Ms Miller chose not to participate in the inquiry but the inquiry was able to draw on her public statements,” read a statement from the premier’s office.

The probe found that “the evidence considered … does not provide a basis for a finding that Mr Tudge’s conduct breached the ministerial standards,” it added.

However, Morrison said Tudge has refused to return to the Cabinet, citing “the interests of his family and his own well-being.”

Miller, in a statement to Australian news outlet the Sydney Morning Herald, rejected the findings and said the investigation “smacks of a political fix.”

“The government has not listened to the concerns I expressed and has refused to negotiate the terms of reference,” she said, adding that the inquiry was “sanitized” to suit the government’s “agenda, its view of the world and its immediate political interests.”​​​​​​​