[4] The Australian media heavily covered the event, including the television station GTV9, which had just recently begun transmitting.

He worked for the Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division) as a divisional field officer in the seats of Fremantle, Perth and Stirling.

He subsequently became a senior field officer and then was appointed general secretary (equivalent to the modern position of state director) in 1978.

[10][11][4][12] Porter was appointed chairman of the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) in 1995 by the state Liberal government.

[9] His son Christian Porter was the Liberal member for Pearce in Western Australia in the Australian House of Representatives.