It’s like Turnbull and Godwin Grech all over again ....
Labor says it's inconceivable and implausible that a senior government minister did not tell the prime minister about the NBN Co AFP referral.
Source: AAP
21 May 2016 - 1:04 PM UPDATED YESTERDAY 2:37 PM
Pressure is mounting on Communications Minister Mitch Fifield to explain why he didn't tell the prime minister NBN Co had asked police to investigate the leaking of documents. Two days after Australian Federal Police seized secret documents during raids at Labor offices in Melbourne, Senator Fifield admitted he knew about the referral but did not tell Malcolm Turnbull. It's also been revealed an NBN Co employee took 32 photographs of the secret documents while assisting the AFP during raids of Labor offices in Melbourne on Thursday. Labor say it's inconceivable and implausible the senior minister would not have advised the prime minister's office of the investigation.
Turnbull must come clean on NBN raid: Wong
Labor senator Penny Wong says it is "inconceivable" Mitch Fifield knew the AFP was investigating alleged NBN Co leaks and didn't tell the PM's office. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the "explosive revelations" by Senator Fifield showed the government's attempt to run from the matter had "hit the fan". "It is either gross incompetence or far worse and we are not being told the truth," he told reporters in Sydney on Saturday. Senator Fifield, who knew about the matter for several months, says he did not instigate the investigation nor pass the information on to Mr Turnbull or any other ministers. "The referral to the AFP was made by the NBN senior management," Senator Fifield said. "I did not instruct nor request them to do so." Mr Turnbull on Saturday backed up his senior minister's account, telling journalists it was "entirely appropriate" for Senator Fifield not to advise him of the matter. "That is a matter of judgment for him," he told reporters on the NSW Central Coast. Police have been investigating the leaking of confidential documents about the national broadband network after the matter was referred from NBN Co last December.
Photos of secret NBN docs deleted
An NBN Co employee who assisted the AFP in raids on Labor offices took photos of allegedly leaked documents which have now been deleted. The documents seized from the office of Labor senator Stephen Conroy and the home of an ALP staffer can't be analysed by police until the Senate decides if parliamentary privilege does apply. Mr Turnbull questioned the process by which Senator Conroy had claimed privilege, saying documents were normally tabled in parliament. "I don't want to get into the legalities of Senator Conroy's determination to keep the police away from these documents, which were clearly stolen from the NBN Co," he said. "So he's trying to keep the police away from those."
Opposition frontbencher Penny Wong accused the prime minister of trying to make light of the claim. "Parliamentary privilege isn't the plaything of any government or any political party," she told reporters in Melbourne. "It is a principle that's been around for many centuries." Labor is also demanding to know who the photos were sent to and who still has copies. Lawyers for Labor on Friday revealed advice that the photos had been sent out. The AFP has confirmed the NBN staffer was under the direction of police at all times during the search. The photographs have since been deleted from the staffer's phone. Mr Turnbull insists the AFP have acted independently amid allegations from Labor the government may have had a hand in the raids - which occurred two weeks into an election campaign.
Abetz admits Turnbull fed him leaks from Grech
- by: Paul Maley
- From: The Australian
- March 26, 2010
LIBERAL senator Eric Abetz has admitted for the first time he was briefed in advance by Malcolm Turnbull's office about every major leak experienced by the Rudd government, prior to his questioning of witnesses during Senate hearings.
Senator Abetz, who is certain to replace Nick Minchin as leader of the opposition in the Senate, told The Australian he had advance knowledge of the leaks about the bank guarantee and FuelWatch as well as the story of H.K. Holdaway, the Treasury officer who became a reluctant celebrity after it emerged she had worked 37 hours straight. The leaks, all of which are understood to have come from disgraced Treasury official Godwin Grech, make clear that by the time of the OzCar affair in June last year the Coalition had a well-established pattern for managing material from Mr Grech.
Mr Grech's leaks were allegedly channelled through Mr Turnbull's office and leaked to the media prior to scheduled hearings of the Senate estimates committee, in a tactic designed to cause maximum embarrassment to the government. Senator Abetz was then briefed, either by Mr Turnbull or members of his staff, and told to direct his questioning towards sensitive areas, identified in advance by Mr Grech, who is now the subject of an AFP investigation over the leaks. Lawyers for Mr Grech declined to comment on Senator Abetz's claims. Mr Turnbull also declined to comment on the allegations.
The Australian can reveal that Mr Grech tipped off Mr Turnbull's office about Ms Holdaway prior to Senator Abetz's questioning of her during an estimates hearing in May 2008. Ms Holdaway was part of a team of officials who worked around the clock to draft legislation for the now-defunct FuelWatch scheme. "I wasn't aware until told by somebody, either Turnbull or one of his staff, that somebody worked around the clock," Senator Abetz told The Australian. "I was given a briefing and asked to prosecute the case."
The FuelWatch program, which would have required petrol stations to post their prices 24 hours in advance, was the subject of two major leaks prior to Ms Holdaway's evidence, including a cabinet document in which four government departments had panned the scheme on the grounds it would be anti-competitive. In both cases, Mr Grech is understood to have passed the material to the Coalition, although it is not clear if the material was passed directly to Mr Turnbull or other Liberals. Senator Abetz was also briefed by Mr Turnbull's office about the bank guarantee leak, a policy measure aimed at ensuring investor confidence at the height of the global financial crisis.
It subsequently emerged that Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens was concerned the policy was causing dislocation in financial markets as investors sought out protected, instead of non-protected, banks. In a letter to Treasury head Ken Henry that was leaked to The Australian, Mr Stevens detailed his concerns about the implementation of the policy. "I was told that there was a disagreement between the governor and the head of Treasury on the bank guarantee and basically I was to go in and explore," Senator Abetz said. "I didn't know that there were these cabinet leaks until provided the information (on) the alleged disagreement between the governor of the Reserve Bank and head of Treasury."
Mr Grech was the Treasury official responsible for the Rudd government's OzCar scheme. He shot to prominence after he claimed to have received an email from a member of Kevin Rudd's staff requesting preferential treatment for Queensland car dealer John Grant, a friend and backer of the Prime Minister. But the email was swiftly revealed to be a fake and Mr Grech subsequently confessed to forging it, claiming it was a recreation of an email he had earlier received and deleted. Prior to the OzCar forged email affair, during which Senator Abetz and Mr Turnbull met with Mr Grech, the Tasmanian senator said he had no knowledge about the source of the leaks.
"It wasn't information personally received by me that I prosecuted those other cases," he said. "It was on the basis of what I was told and asked to do by Turnbull or his office, as is the wont in a team."
Godwin Grech: an incomparable disaster for the public service
5 August2009
Bernard Keane
http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/08/05/godwin-grech-an-incomparable-disaster-for-the-public-service/