Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to newspaper reports today which contain leaked national security documents and which also extensively quote the member for Warringah. This morning the Leader of the House said:

There are no more classified documents than ones that are in the National Security Committee.

He also said:

The government will take this leak to the Australian very seriously.

Given the seriousness of this matter, has this national security breach been referred to the Australian Federal Police?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I can confirm that the Secretary of the Department of Defence has advised me that he has initiated an investigation, which will obviously be conducted by the Australian Federal Police, into the apparent leak of the classified documents that were referred to in the newspaper.

I should also advise the House that the Secretary of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force have advised the defence minister and myself today that their consistent advice to the government since 2013 has been that it was highly unlikely the first of the future submarines could be delivered by 2026, and an extension of life for the Collins class submarine would almost certainly be required. The secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force further advised us that a study commissioned by the defence minister confirmed in 2012 that an extension of life for the Collins submarine was feasible and practical. The Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force have, since that time, worked on the basis that an extension of life would be undertaken as the only practical option to ensure that there was no capability gap between the Collins and the future submarines.