Government confirms bid to hide counter-terror details from royal commission
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s department tried to prevent royal commissioner Virginia Bell from assessing whether the government had directed intelligence agencies to reduce counter-terrorism resources ahead of the Bondi massacre, a senior minister has confirmed.
ASIO officials told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday night that they were not trying to prevent the royal commission from accessing relevant material, backing ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess’s written statement to the royal commission.
In his statement, Burgess said the Commonwealth had made various public interest immunity (PII) claims that prevented documents, including the cabinet memorandum, from being made public.
The documents will be blocked not only from the public, but also from the royal commissioner, Virginia Bell.
Asked about the issue on Thursday night, Environment Minister Murray Watt said the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had requested public interest immunity in relation to cabinet papers.
He told Liberal Senator Jonno Duniam: “All I can say is that the PII claim was made by the Commonwealth on the advice of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to safeguard the cabinet process, but of course the Royal Commissioner makes the final decision on all PII claims.”
“Actually, as you know, cabinet secrecy is not exactly a new concept.”
Asked whether ASIO had sought public interest immunity in relation to cabinet deliberations, senior ASIO official Lisa Alonso Love said: “No, I’m not aware of ASIO seeking that.”
Burgess did not attend Thursday’s hearings because he was ill.
In the written statement made to the royal commission, firstly Australian Finance review Burgess wrote this week: “I understand this [classified] ASIO or [national intelligence community] is to reduce as a whole [counter-terrorism] efforts to serve other priorities.
“I have been informed that the Commonwealth intends to assert public interest immunity as to whether the cabinet or the National Security Committee of the Cabinet has taken such a decision or issued a direction.”
Duniam demanded the government produce documents to the royal commission, accusing it of using public interest immunity protections “as a shield to protect against political embarrassment”.
A spokesman for the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion said on Thursday that public interest immunity could apply if the material “reveals secret cabinet deliberations”.
“If public interest immunity applies, the material cannot be given to the royal commission,” he said. Financial Review.
However, Bell will be able to review the material to decide whether to support or reject the claim for public interest immunity.
Attorney General Michelle Rowland told a news conference that she needed to check who was trying to intercept the documents, adding that “some of this information is extremely sensitive.”
Bell’s interim report, released last month, said the proportion of funding allocated to counterterrorism across national intelligence agencies “significantly decreased” from 2020 to 2025, even as overall funding increased.
Albanese refused to rely on that finding, telling SBS last month: “The report makes it clear that there is no inadequacy in preventing acts of terrorism by state institutions. So he makes that very clear in the report.”
Burgess told the royal commission on Monday that ASIO was turning to investigate foreign interference and espionage as terrorism replaced terrorism as the country’s top national security threat in 2022.
“Looking back, I think our resources were still adequate for the problems we faced,” he said.
“Of course we are in a difficult situation, and I have a way to ask for additional resources if necessary.”
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