Malcolm Turnbull’s new special minister of state, Mal Brough, faces renewed questions over the disclosure of the former speaker’s diary in James Ashby case

The Australian federal police have confirmed they are still investigating allegations about the disclosure of the former speaker Peter Slipper’s diaries, in a potential headache for Malcolm Turnbull’s new special minister of state, Mal Brough.

In media interviews after being sworn in to the ministry on Monday, Brough faced questions about whether he had asked Slipper’s then staffer James Ashby to make copies of the MP’s private diary in 2012. Brough defended his conduct, saying the claims were a “misunderstanding”.

But Guardian Australia has learned that an AFP investigation into the matter remains active.

“The AFP can confirm that it received a referral regarding the alleged unauthorised disclosure of Mr Slipper’s diaries on 8 September 2014 and is investigating this matter,” an AFP spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“This investigation remains ongoing.”

The Labor MP Graham Perrett wrote to the AFP the day after the Nine Network broadcast a 60 Minutes episode about the Ashby issue in September 2014. He pointed to Brough’s response when journalist Liz Hayes asked on the program: “Did you ask James Ashby to procure copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for you?”

Brough replied: “Yes I did.”

In his 8 September 2014 letter, Perrett asked the AFP to investigate whether there had been any breach of section 478.1 of the Criminal Code (unauthorised access to restricted data) and section 70 of the Crimes Act (unauthorised disclosure of information by commonwealth officers).

Guardian Australia asked Brough’s office whether he was aware of the investigation and co-operating with it, and whether he had notified Turnbull prior to being appointed to his ministerial position.

Brough’s lawyer replied: “If you are referring to the Ashby and Slipper matter, Minister Brough has no response to the investigation as he has not been approached by the AFP in relation to any referral regarding this matter...so he can make no comment in relation to it. As a consequence there would be no reason to raise the issue with the prime minister.”

Brough was asked during an interview with the ABC’s Lateline program on Monday whether it was appropriate to ask Ashby to make copies of Slipper’s private diary.

“No, that’s not correct,” he said. “I mean, I know that that’s what’s been reported, but that is not exactly the right description of what occurred. But what I can tell you is that I stand by every action that I’ve taken.”

Brough faced similar questions when he was interviewed on ABC Radio National on Tuesday morning. The RN breakfast host, Fran Kelly, quoted the 60 Minutes exchange about the copying of the diary material.

He replied: “Fran, I know what you are going to and what you are going to is in fact a misunderstanding. I’m not going to go back and canvass all of these issues.”

Brough said he had always been “concerned that the public can have confidence that every dollar that is spent in support of an MP or a member or a Senator’s job is actually an entitlement that meets the public test”.

“Judge me by what I do,” he said. “My own diary has been up on my website so everyone can see what I do. My entitlements, my travel, whether I fly economy class, where I fly, and what I do are all there for everyone to see. First of all I don’t ask anyone to do anything I’m not prepared to do myself.”

Perrett said the special minister of state was “a particularly important portfolio having responsibility for key integrity agencies such as the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australian national audit office, the Australian electoral commission and administration of the parliamentary entitlements framework”.

“But Mr Brough’s involvement in Ashby affair raises serious questions about whether he is fit for this important office,” Perrett said in a statement on Monday.

Brough reacted angrily to an “extraordinary” line of questioning during the Lateline interview, when Alberici asked him about the findings of a federal court judge in December 2012.

Judge Steven Rares found Ashby had launched a sexual harassment case against Slipper, the then speaker of the House of Representatives, “to pursue a political attack against Mr Slipper”.

Rares also said Ashby had acted “in combination” with another staffer and Brough when commencing the proceedings “in order to advance the interests of the LNP and Mr Brough”.

Brough objected to the line of questioning, while saying he “stood by every action” that he had taken.

“So Emma, did you read what the full court of the federal court overcame – overrode that?” Brough said. “You want to read that paragraph out which said that was totally wrong, that that finding by Judge Rares was wrong? Is that not what the ABC does?”

Brough, who was also sworn in as minister for defence materiel and science in the new prime minister’s reshuffle, continued: “So, when you have the full bench override that decision, is not that relevant to you and your listeners? You have just read out something that was totally discredited by the full bench of the federal court. I find that extraordinary. Why wouldn’t you actually read out the paragraph which found that that finding was incorrect?”

When Alberici replied that the subsequent decision “didn’t quite find that it was incorrect”, Brough persisted: “Oh, yes, it did. Yes, it did. And if you’d like the paragraph, I’d be delighted for you to read it to your listeners tomorrow night … 100%, Emma, 100% said that that was incorrect and that I had no case. Why aren’t you reading that out?”

Alberici said there was never a case brought against Brough directly, and the action had been against Slipper.

“Exactly,” Brough said. “And when the matter was appealed, why will you not read out precisely what the full bench found? Isn’t that what our justice system is about? You have elected to read out an earlier finding which was overruled by the full bench of the federal court. I find that an extraordinary thing for you to do.”



Brough was referring to two federal court judges, in February 2014, allowing Ashby’s appeal against Rares’s decision to dismiss the case on the grounds of abuse of process. They set aside the original orders. A third judge dissented.

In delivering the majority decision, judges John Mansfield and John Gilmour said: “We are also of the opinion that there was no basis for the primary judge to conclude that Brough was part of any combination with anyone in respect to the commencement of these proceedings with the predominant purpose of damaging Slipper in the way alleged or at all.”

Having won the right to continue with the case, Ashby decided several months later to drop the sexual harassment proceedings.

In February this year, Slipper won a legal battle in the Australian Capital Territory supreme court to overturn his conviction for dishonestly using taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers worth nearly $1,000 to visit wineries outside Canberra in 2010. The court highlighted considerable uncertainty over the definition of parliamentary business.

Slipper resigned as Speaker in October 2012 after coming under pressure over details of text messages tendered as part of the sexual harassment case. It was in response to a Coalition motion of no confidence in Slipper that the then prime minister, Julia Gillard, delivered her “misogyny speech”.



The Gillard government had elevated Slipper, a former Liberal National party member, to the position of Speaker earlier in 2012, a decision that had the effect of firming up Labor’s numbers in the hung parliament.

In the Lateline interview, Alberici asked Brough whether he regretted the role he played in ending Slipper’s career. “No; I don’t regret doing what I did,” he replied.

Brough, a former Howard government minister who obtained LNP preselection and won Slipper’s seat of Fisher at the 2013 election, said Slipper “deserted the Liberal party, sided with the Labor party, became the Speaker and the rest is history”.