Australia politics live: questions surround timing of AFP decision to notify Dutton of alleged rape

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• Man accused of raping Brittany Higgins returned to Parliament House
• Dutton says police told him about rape allegation days before story broke
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9.49pm GMT

Peter Dutton, a former police officer, explained his decision not to inform the prime minister of his knowledge like this:

I made a judgement that I had received a briefing from the Australian Federal Police Commissioner about a sensitive matter.

I took a decision that I wasn’t going to disclose that to the Prime Minister. I think that was the right decision.

9.44pm GMT

There was no alert/warning for that Peter Dutton press conference.

And still no answer on why the AFP decided to enact its ‘alert the home affairs minister’ guideline on February 11, 2021, but not in early 2019 when it was first made aware of the allegations. A complaint does not need to progress for the AFP to follow those guidelines.

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