The NSW Police deputy commissioner rejected a request by sex crime detectives to travel to South Australia to interview the woman who levelled historical rape allegations against Christian Porter, documents show.
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The then attorney-general last month launched defamation action against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan for publishing what he says are "false accusations" he was the subject of rape allegations stemming back to 1988.
The SA-based woman at the centre of the allegations took her own life in June.
The complainant originally reported the matter to SA Police in November 2019 and the allegations were passed on to NSW Police's sex crimes squad.
She briefly spoke with detectives while in Sydney in February 2020 but wished to conduct the interview in SA so she could have a support person available.
In March 2020, two NSW detectives sought to travel to SA to speak with the woman and were on March 10 approved for travel by Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec, the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad commander.
However, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson three days later rejected the request to travel due to COVID-19 protocols.
It was the sole application by NSW detectives to travel to SA to interview the woman. NSW Police decided that due to the complexities of the case, it was not in the woman's interests to provide a statement remotely.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller in budget estimates last month confirmed Mr Hudson rejected the request to travel, and the documents related to that decision were provided to the NSW upper house on Friday.
It came after the NSW Greens ordered the papers in a parliamentary motion.
In justifying his decision, Mr Hudson wrote: "Insufficient detail provided by (State Crime Command) to justify why this travel cannot be deferred in accordance with Commissioner's Direction and government policy precluding international travel and restricting interstate travel to operational necessity."
The NSW detectives' travel itinerary outlined a four-day trip to Adelaide from March 15 to March 18 which included use of a hire car.
NSW Police say Mr Porter's accuser did not wish to issue her statement to SA Police and preferred to liaise with NSW investigators.
Police were informed one day before the woman's death on June 24, 2020 that she no longer wished to proceed with the investigation.
"It's hard to believe that NSW Police rejected all three opportunities to take a statement from the complainant by travel to SA, by videolink and through SA Police," Greens MP David Shoebridge said in a statement.
"The lack of reasoning is even harder to understand given the travel application made it clear the person of interest in the investigation had a 'very high profile'."
Mr Porter, a West Australian MP, has since the publication of the ABC report changed roles from attorney-general to industry minister.
The February 26 report referred to an unnamed federal cabinet minister but Mr Porter revealed himself as the subject of the allegations on March 3.
Mr Porter in his defamation action against the ABC is seeking aggravated damages, costs and removal of the article and related material on the internet.
His legal team earlier this month argued Mr Porter was readily identifiable in the ABC report despite its reference to an unnamed cabinet minister.
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