The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has confirmed he knew the Australian Federal Police were investigating leaks from within NBN Co but said he did not tell the prime minister.
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Burke said the office raid was in relation to an investigation of a possible leak of government information about Australia’s upgrade of its broadband.
AFP said the investigation remains ongoing, with further details provided in the near future.
University of Sydney emeritus professor of political science and media Rodney Tiffen said the raids, coming as they did in the midst of a federal election campaign, were “unprecedented” and it was unclear how the situation would play out.
The union representing journalists has said raids carried out overnight on the offices of former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and the home of a Labor Party staffer were “heavy handed” and an attack on press freedom.
“It was quite properly a matter for NBN”.
The ALP has called on the government to detail its involvement in the matter.
The staff member, who was enlisted by the AFP as a “special constable” to help identify allegedly leaked documents, took 32 photos of confidential items.
Mr Turnbull questioned the process by which Senator Conroy had claimed privilege, saying documents were normally tabled in parliament.
The Labor Party successfully pushed for the images of the documents to be deleted from the phone once they were downloaded onto USB for the Clerk of the Senate.
Sensitive documents have been repeatedly leaked since late previous year revealing budget blow-outs, delays, and alternative network architectures.
“Search warrants conducted in East Melbourne and Brunswick are part of a phased approach that the AFP has undertaken regarding this investigation”, a AFP statement read.
Colvin said on Friday there had been no political interference in the police investigation, including in the timing of Thursday’s raids. Now we see them attacking the integrity of the Australian Federal Police.
But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity continues to slide, with a Seven News-ReachTEL poll showing 55.6 per cent of voters confident he’ll be better in the nation’s top job.
‘Well, Gavin, I hope that wasn’t your real name because you just made a complaint about Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN.
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NBN documents released to press outlets have revealed higher than expected costs to remediate copper and challenges in sourcing power to power the nodes in NBN’s FTTN rollout.
