NBN document leak: Dreyfus urges Senate to block AFP access to parliament emails

Updated

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says he expects all senators to uphold Labor's claim of parliamentary privilege over thousands of documents sought by the Australian Federal Police.

AFP officers today spent nearly 12 hours trawling through thousands of emails on the main server at Parliament House, in search of evidence Labor staffers leaked confidential NBN documents.

Labor said documents should be protected by parliamentary privilege and not provided to police.

The Senate will have the final say on whether the claim will stand and Mr Dreyfus argues parliamentary privilege protects Senators from all sides of politics.

"I'm expecting Liberal and National Party senators to uphold the privilege that is something that is central to parliamentary democracy," Mr Dreyfus told Lateline.

"It's not something that should be reduced to some parliamentary political calculation."

Earlier on Wednesday Labor Senator Stephen Conroy also said the documents should be protected by parliamentary privilege.

The Labor frontbencher described the AFP investigation as an "extraordinary attack" on parliament and the act of a desperate Government trying to cover up the maladministration of the Government-owned NBN.

"This is a complete furphy by the NBN board to try and protect Malcolm Turnbull from being exposed as having presided over a disastrous blowout of $15 billion in costs to build his second-rate network," Senator Conroy told PM.

But the Prime Minister described that suggestion as "outrageous" and accused Senator Conroy of trying to stymie a legitimate police investigation.

Mr Turnbull called on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to "pull Senator Conroy into line", and accused the former communications minister of trying to prevent the police from investigating.

"He [Bill Shorten] knows absolutely as well as we do that the AFP are thoroughly independent of the government, there is no political direction at all," he said.

"As for him [Senator Conroy] trying to use political influence to stop an investigation, well, really, again, he should know better."

Labor staff, media named in warrant

The AFP search warrant, obtained by Lateline, shows police want access to emails and records relating to Labor staffers and to news organisations including the ABC.

The search warrant reveals the wide net the AFP is casting in its investigation, requesting access to computers, hard drives, tablets and storage devices to source email account details, emails and email logs, scanning logs, government records, correspondence and diary records.

Senator Conroy said it was clear from the warrant that the police wanted to find out whether employees working for NBN forwarded information to Labor staff, and whether Labor staff provided information to reporters.

"They [police] have been going through the entire email database of two ALP staffers," Senator Conroy said

"They've found, they claim, 1,800 hundred [emails] that have reference to material they've been looking for."

Labor claims parliamentary privilege over documents: Conroy

Senator Conroy said Labor was claiming parliamentary privilege over all documents to stop them from being used as part of the investigation, and would take any action required to protect whistleblowers.

Under AFP guidelines, parliamentary privilege applies to any document or other thing which falls within the concept of "proceedings of parliament".

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Federal police officers enter Parliament House (ABC News)

Throughout the day AFP investigators have been printing copies of emails they want to include in the investigation, but handing them to the clerk of the Senate to be put in a sealed bag.

It will ultimately left to the Upper House to decide whether the documents are protected by parliamentary privilege.

Labor and the Greens intend to block any attempt to overturn parliamentary privilege, which means the Turnbull Government would need crossbench support to have the emails released.

The unusual police activity at Parliament House follows the AFP's search of the Melbourne offices of Senator Conroy and the home of a Labor staffer in May, during the election campaign.

Labor has also claimed parliamentary privilege over those documents.

Glossary

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Parliamentary privilege

Parliamentary privilege refers to

According to AFP guidelines, "parliamentary privilege applies to any document or other thing which falls within the concept of 'proceedings of parliament'". That includes "documents sent to a senator, which the senator then determined to use".

NBN Co

NBN Co is a Government-owned corporation, charged with constructing the National Broadband Network. The company's constitution states "the company's objects are to roll-out, operate and maintain a national wholesale broadband network while working closely with the Commonwealth during the implementation study in order to facilitate the implementation of Australian Government broadband policy and regulation".

Whistleblowers

There is no global definition of whistleblowing, but a 1994 Senate Select Committee described it as “the disclosure by organisation members (former or current) of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers to persons that may be able to effect action".

Another definition describes a whistleblower as a person with insider information of misconduct who makes a decision to report or disclose that information. They are different from a customer, members of the public, or others who have evidence of and report organisational misconduct. Parliamentary privilege refers to special legal rights and immunities which apply to each House of the Parliament, its committees and Members. These provisions are part of the law of the Commonwealth.According to AFP guidelines, "parliamentary privilege applies to any document or other thing which falls within the concept of 'proceedings of parliament'". That includes "documents sent to a senator, which the senator then determined to use".NBN Co is a Government-owned corporation, charged with constructing the National Broadband Network. The company's constitution states "the company's objects are to roll-out, operate and maintain a national wholesale broadband network while working closely with the Commonwealth during the implementation study in order to facilitate the implementation of Australian Government broadband policy and regulation".There is no global definition of whistleblowing, but a 1994 Senate Select Committee described it as “the disclosure by organisation members (former or current) of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers to persons that may be able to effect action".Another definition describes a whistleblower as a person with insider information of misconduct who makes a decision to report or disclose that information. They are different from a customer, members of the public, or others who have evidence of and report organisational misconduct.

Topics: police, federal-government, wireless-communication, political-parties

First posted