WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Leaking cabinet information is a criminal offence.
AAP FACTCHECK VERDICT
Misleading. No law specifically prohibits ministers from leaking cabinet information.
Labor MP says whoever revealing the prime minister’s negotiations on a religious discrimination bill .
However, the claim is misleading. No law specifically bans ministers from leaking information from cabinet meetings. Experts have told AAP FactCheck that police are unlikely to prosecute a minister for a routine cabinet leak, even if it does breach Australia’s broad secrecy laws.
During , Mr O’Connor said: “Leaking from cabinet is a criminal offence. Has the prime minister asked the Australian Federal Police to investigate the source of the major cabinet leak designed to undermine the prime minister?”
Mr O’Connor’s office told AAP FactCheck he was referring to section 122.1 of the , which makes it an offence for a Commonwealth official to unlawfully communicate intelligence and security information.
, a senior lecturer at Griffith University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, told AAP FactCheck in a phone interview that Mr O’Connor’s claim is “misleading, in the sense that it makes it sound like to most people that there is a crime of leaking from cabinet, which is not the case”.
Dr Hardy co-authored about Australian secrecy laws, which are contained in section . Offences include the communication of “inherently harmful information”, communication of information that causes harm to “Australia’s interests”, and unauthorised disclosure of information by current and former Commonwealth officers. People convicted under section 122 potentially face up seven years in prison.
Dr Hardy said section 122 was “extremely broad” and, theoretically, the release of cabinet information could be a criminal offence. However, all offences “really come down to discretion to prosecute” and it was unlikely police would take action.
“I can’t see that realistically happening when leaks are part of everyday politics,” he said.
“The idea that somebody sniping on somebody in cabinet is going to be prosecuted as a crime is a bit ridiculous, even though technically they’ve made laws that are broad enough to possibly cover it.”
, a parliamentary law and procedure expert at the University of Tasmania, told AAP FactCheck the law around cabinet leaks is “not quite as simple” as Mr O’Connor implies, and ministers are not “realistically” at risk of prosecution.
“While the principle of is desirable – and it can be a criminal act to breach that confidentiality – there are a lot of loopholes in that process,” Dr Herr said in a phone interview.
Neither Dr Hardy nor Dr Herr were aware of any historical cases of ministers being prosecuted for leaking cabinet information. Mr O’Connor is not the first MP to claim the leaks are a crime.
In 2015, Labor’s current manager of opposition business, , under , legislation that was and replaced by section 122 of the Criminal Code.
Shadow attorney-general . Former Liberal deputy leader warned colleagues in 2017 that leaking from cabinet .
AAP FACTCHECK VERDICT
While Mr Connor’s claim may be technically true under Australia’s broad secrecy laws, experts told AAP FactCheck that no law specifically prohibits ministers from leaking cabinet discussions. They also say police are unlikely to prosecute a minister for disclosing routine cabinet discussions.
Misleading – The claim is accurate in parts but information has also been presented incorrectly, out of context or omitted.
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