Robert Brokenshire, a former Liberal, was inadvertently sent a much larger cache of data than intended after freedom of information request

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The office of a former Liberal South Australian state minister has been revealed as the source of the ABC payroll leak.

It is understood a freedom of information request made from the office of Robert Brokenshire – now a Family First MLC – led to a much larger cache of data than intended being inadvertently sent.

The Australian newspaper on Wednesday published the salaries of many of the ABC’s best-paid employees. It said the top 100 salaries ranged from $678,940 to $171,041, and the newspaper had a breakdown of the amount spent in 2011-12 on 5,511 ABC employees. When they were published, the managing director of the ABC, Mark Scott, said the details were "wrong" and "out-of-date".

It appears that the information had been with Brokenshire's office for more than a year. In an email to staff, Scott said the material was sent to the MLC's office in October last year.

It is unknown how the information reached the newspaper from Brokenshire’s office. The reporter who broke the story was Sarah Martin, South Australia political reporter for the Australian.

Scott said the FOI request was for simple summary information about staff numbers in certain regional areas and at ABC headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Ultimo between 2007 and 2012.

He said the payroll detail was accessed through material embedded underneath a simple one-page spreadsheet showing the relevant staffing numbers.

Scott said the ABC had notified the Privacy Commissioner of the matter and the steps being taken in response.

In the email, Scott wrote that there was "legitimate public debate about the appropriate level of disclosure for areas of public expenditure".

He added: "In releasing personal details like this, media companies and newspaper editors will make their decisions. Readers will judge their motivation and the credibility of their justification for publication.

"My concern for staff was that the ABC had not kept confidential, important private information. We were concerned about a deliberate leak or computer hacking and asked for an expedited investigation from our Group Audit team.

"Their investigation has shown that the material was inadvertently sent to the office of a South Australian Member of Parliament in October last year in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act."

The hidden detail sent included confidential salary information for all ABC staff for six financial years, starting from 2006-07.

Scott said the material was clearly "created and distributed in an inappropriate way" at the ABC, for which he apologised to staff.

"The ABC managing director has confirmed the accuracy of the information published by the Australian," said Michael Owen, Adelaide bureau chief of the Australian. "We will not comment on confidential sources."