"Mr Briggs has conceded that he sent this photograph to his colleagues. He denies providing it to The Australian so one of his colleagues must have. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he does not want to hold an inquiry into the leak. "I think the more important question for Mr Turnbull is what action is he taking as the leader of the party and the Prime Minister to find out who received this photo and who provided it to the media." Four days after Mr Briggs resigned for inappropriate behaviour towards the female diplomat, a pixelated photograph of her was published in weekend newspapers, alongside private text messages to Mr Briggs' chief of staff Stuart Eaton and her age and job description. The image shows the embassy official, a woman in her 20s who had dined with Mr Briggs and then joined him in a bar afterwards, posing with Mr Eaton. The picture was taken on Mr Briggs' phone. He has said he didn't leak it but admitted he had "sent it to a few people prior to the complaint and following".

The leaking of the photo has been seen as an attempt to discredit the woman. Frontbencher Jamie Briggs said work took him away from home 165 nights last year. Credit:Andrew Meares On Monday, Mr Turnbull rebuked any MP who leaked against the public servant. "Publishing the identity of a complainant in a case like this not only infringes on their privacy, it serves actively to discourage other women who are concerned about the conduct of a superior from raising a complaint in the future," he said. "I urge all parties to respect the public servant's privacy."

Fairfax Media understands the Prime Minister was angered by the leaking and publication of the photo and had personally called a senior News Corp executive asking him not to publish. Mr Turnbull said that from the outset he had "sought to ensure the privacy of the public servant concerned has been protected". The woman had made it clear she wanted to remain anonymous, it is understood. Senator Wong said that if Mr Turnbull was concerned about this he should "be undertaking the appropriate investigation and taking appropriate action against whichever Coalition MP or senator provided that photograph to the media". "He is right to be concerned about the complainant's privacy being compromised in this way," she said. Michael Tull, the assistant national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union, has called the leak a "gross breach of privacy" and said if it had come from a public sector employee "that person would be facing serious repercussions".

"People should feel safe to raise their concerns without this kind of blowback," he said. - with David Wroe