Jo Dyer, who made headlines last year as the vocal advocate for the woman who accused former attorney-general Christian Porter of rape, is running for federal parliament as an Independent next year.
Announcing her campaign yesterday, Dyer will fight for the marginal South Australian seat of Boothby, currently held by Liberal MP Nicolle Flint who will retire at the next election.
“Yes, people, this is happening: I’m running as an Independent for the mighty seat of Boothby. It’s way beyond time to reset the toxic mess of our current politics and demand honesty, integrity and accountability from our leaders,” she tweeted.
After fiercely lobbying for an inquiry into the allegation against Porter— who will also retire at the election– Dyer was endorsed by the grassroots ‘Voices of’ campaign and is pushing for greater climate action, a federal integrity commission and gender equity.
‘Both our politics and our policy development is compromised by a lack of integrity, a lack of accountability and, as a result of that, we’re really not getting great outcomes for the country, Dyer said on Monday.
‘It’s like everything gets reduced to being another tranche in the culture wars and stakes are just too high to do business as usual.’Scott Morrison did not take harsh enough action against Mr Porter, even though police investigated and did not lay any charges.
Dyer also reiterated her frustration at the government’s handling of her deceased friend’s allegations, suggesting the claims were largely ignored.
“They (the government) didn’t respond in any meaningful way,” she said. “They looked at the allegations and more broadly women’s fight for justice as a political problem that if they could they would ignore.”
Before announcing his retirement last month, Porter had faced a raft of allegations with many suggesting his position and future with the government was untenable.
In September Porter revealed he had accepted an anonymous donation to help cover his legal costs in a defamation case against the ABC estimated to be worth $600,000 to $1million.
The donation was made through a blind trust which kept the identity of the donor or donors concealed.
Labor said it was unacceptable for a member of parliament to receive a donation when they could not verify where it had come from.
Boothby is the second most marginal seat in the country, with many suggesting Dyer has a strong opportunity. In 2016 the Nick Xenophon Team garnered 20 percent of the vote.
The seat is being contested by St Vincent de Paul Society SA CEO, Louise Miller Frost (ALP) and health consultant Rachel Swift for the Liberal Party.
