Australian Federal Police raid Labor offices over NBN leaks to media
The Australian Federal Police raided Labor Party offices last night after receiving complaints from the National Broadband Network Company over leaks of Commonwealth information to the media.
The AFP said it executed two search warrants in Melbourne yesterday as part of an investigation concerning “allegations of the unauthorised disclosure of Commonwealth information”.
AFP raid Labor office and Brunswick home of staffer https://t.co/38ogNNrkMf pic.twitter.com/w6VwEzaPv6
— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) May 19, 2016
It is understood the Federal Police searched the Treasury Place office of former communications minister Stephen Conroy and the Brunswick home of a Labor staffer on Thursday night.
Senior Labor MP Anthony Albanese told Nine’s Today show the raid on the staffer’s home was only completed in the early hours of this morning.
“It is quite extraordinary that the Australian Federal Police left this staff member’s home just half an hour ago. What that means is that it has been quite an extraordinary raid over an extensive period of time in extraordinary circumstances during an election campaign,” he said.
“The AFP have made that statement but we know that Malcolm Turnbull is very precious and we also know that Malcolm Turnbull has doubled the costs of the NBN and halved the speed. We know that he was desperate to stop it getting out that the roll-out is way behind time.”
“We also know @TurnbullMalcolm had doubled the costs of the NBN, and halved the speed.” @AlboMP #9Today https://t.co/2FtB1UYFwN
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) May 19, 2016
The AFP has said its investigation was “undertaken independent of government, and decisions regarding yesterday’s activity were made by the AFP alone”.
“Search warrants conducted in East Melbourne and Brunswick are part of a phased approach that the AFP has undertaken regarding this investigation. The next phase of this investigation involves the examination and analysis of material collected during these search warrants,” the AFP said, in a statement.
“The Federal Government and opposition were appropriately notified and advised of operational activity regarding this matter after it commenced yesterday.”
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: “This is entirely a matter for the AFP. They operate entirely independent of government and the Labor Party knows that as well as I do.”
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Quite stunning developments for anyone who has been closely following the real & very sorry story of the NBN rollout.
For those who are interested in factual background information on the NBN and the massive impact which sub-standard internet connectivity will have on our industry, please see this Open Letter which I sent to all of you a month or so back – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nbn-open-letter-marketing-advertising-media-industry-denise-shrivell?trk=mp-author-card
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