Asked why he was discussing on-water matters on the day of the election,Morrison said it was “in the interests of full transparency”,adding that the Labor Party had also been briefed.
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But according to a timeline of events on election day,the Home Affairs statement did not go live online until 1.09pm,two minutes after that media conference ended.
The Labor Party did not receive a briefing until nearly 2.30 that afternoon. That briefing,with the Commander of the Joint Agency Task Force Operation Sovereign Borders,was also attended by staff from Karen Andrews’ office.
Shortly after being sworn in as prime minister on May 24,Anthony Albanese accused the Coalition of playing politics with national security,and the new government pledged to investigate the timing of the disclosure.
That report has now been finalised. In it,the timeline of events shows staff from Andrews’ office asked Home Affairs to provide an urgent statement on the boat intercept,using words to the effect “the prime minister wants a statement” and requesting a statement within 15 minutes.
That statement was sent to the minister’s office about half an hour later,and was promptly returned,updated,with a request to send it to a select list of journalists. Pezzullo told department staff not to do so. The minister’s office then asked if Border Force could tweet the statement and the department declined.
“Under no circumstances is the department to drop the story to selected journalists. The release once cleared is to be posted to our news and media site – no more and no less,” Pezzullo told departmental staff at the time.
In his report,Pezzullo said all departmental and Border Force officials had kept their actions apolitical and did not breach caretaker conventions,despite pressure from the home affairs minister’s staff.
“The detailed chronology of events indicates there was pressure placed on officials to release a public statement regarding the interception of SIEV 915[suspected illegal entry vessel] prior to the conclusion of the operational activity,” the report said.
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“The pressure was exacerbated by the direction to draft and publish the statement within 15 minutes.”
Pezzullo also noted that when the department was asked to publish the statement,there was “no evidence to suggest” that departmental staff knew the government was planning to tweet and text the message that people should keep the country’s borders safe by voting Liberal.
A spokeswoman for Andrews said the report showed caretaker provisions had not been breached.
“Previous similar publications were done in the interest of transparency and deterrence,as stipulated in the report,” she said.
“The minister worked with department officials to ensure the opposition received a briefing within a timely manner.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was also contacted for comment.
Caretaker conventions are not strict rules,but guidelines that govern the period of an election campaign to ensure the public service does not get involved with any election activities.
O’Neil commended the work of Border Force,Defence Force and Home Affairs staff for acting with integrity,but said the former government’s actions were a disgrace.
“The profound compromise of a military-led operation is without precedent in Australia’s history,” she said. “It was disgraceful,shameful,and characteristic of a national government which frequently pursued political interests above the national interest.”
– With Shane Wright
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.