Agreement towards independent inquiry undermining the rule of law

Q. Following the allegations of rape and sexual assault against Attorney General Christian Porter last week, Scott Morrison has rejected calls for an independent inquiry, saying that “I don’t agree with that because I don’t agree with the precedent or the prima facie case for there being such a process… because that would say the rule of law and our police are not competent to deal with these issues.”.

To what extent do you agree with his suggestion that holding an independent inquiry would undermine the rule of law?

	Total	Gender			Age Group				Federal Voting Intention
		Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+	Labor		TOTAL: Coalition	Greens	TOTAL: Other
Strongly agree	15%	20%	10%	4%		18%	21%	7%		25%	5%	18%
Somewhat agree	22%	24%	20%	20%		23%	23%	16%		31%	12%	23%
Neither agree nor disagree	31%	27%	34%	45%		29%	21%	31%		24%	36%	31%
Somewhat disagree	15%	13%	17%	19%		13%	13%	21%		11%	22%	7%
Strongly disagree	18%	17%	19%	12%		18%	22%	25%		9%	25%	21%
TOTAL: Agree	37%	44%	30%	24%		41%	43%	23%		57%	17%	41%
TOTAL: Disagree	33%	29%	36%	31%		31%	36%	46%		20%	47%	28%
Base (n)	1,124	553	571	337		383	404	375		410	98	142

• People are split on Scott Morrison’s suggestion that holding an independent inquiry would undermine the rule of law. While 33% disagree with the Prime Minister’s suggestion, 37% agree and 31% are undecided.
• Men are more likely than women to agree with this suggestion (44% to 30% respectively). Those over 55 and those aged 35-54 are also more likely to agree with it than the younger 18-34 cohort (43% and 41% to 24% respectively).