Sarah Hanson-Young says immigration minister’s staff may have contravened Crimes Act by providing detention centre information to a journalist

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Federal police have been asked to investigate Scott Morrison and his staff for allegedly leaking details of a confidential internal security report from Nauru to a journalist, it has been reported.



News Corp Australia reported on Friday that internal Transfield security documents from the offshore processing centre in Nauru revealed it was “probable” that Save the Children staff were encouraging asylum seekers to self-harm.

Fairfax Media said on Wednesday it understood that select paragraphs from the confidential report were provided to the journalist.

The article also reported that the immigration minister had ordered 10 Save the Children staff to be removed from the island under Section 70 of the Crimes Act for alleged misuse of privileged information.

This prohibits any person employed by the commonwealth to send information to a non-government officer.

The Greens immigration spokeswoman, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, has written to the Australian federal police to say Morrison’s staff may have contravened the same section of the Crimes Act by providing select confidential information to a journalist.

The AFP confirmed to Fairfax Media it had received the complaint and would evaluate it “as per usual process”.

Morrison has launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against women and children asylum seekers on Nauru and into allegations that Save the Children staff were “coaching and encouraging” asylum seekers to protest and self-harm.

Hanson-Young told Fairfax Media that “information seems to be leaking from the office of the minister and his department at suspiciously convenient times”.

“If the minister’s office has been involved in a breach of the Crimes Act, I expect the full force of the law to be applied.”