PM Malcolm Turnbull stands by Mal Brough after AFP launches three raids in connection with documents of Peter Slipper

IT WAS a campaign of personal and political destruction which saw Peter Slipper depart public life a broken man.

Slipper

IT WAS a campaign of personal and political destruction which saw Peter Slipper depart public life a broken man.

And it was almost a forgotten drama until this week when the Australian Federal Police conducted three raids, including one targeting a Turnbull minister.

The home of Mal Brough, the Special Minister of State, who replaced Mr Slipper as MP for the Queensland Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher, was searched by AFP officers on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today expressed his confidence in Mr Brough and acknowledged there was an investigation underway.

“But at this stage there is nothing to suggest Mr Brough should stand aside or do anything of that kind,” he said in Manilla.

“But naturally he is providing complete co-operation with the investigation, as he should.”

The homes or offices of former Slipper advisers James Ashby and Karen Doane were also were searched by the AFP.

The raids were linked to one of the strangest episodes of our political history.

A former National Party member who became a Liberal, Mr Slipper later became an independent and was made Speaker under the minority government of Labor’s Julia Gillard.

This rearranged the numbers in the House of Representatives and made the Gillard government safer.

Then opposition leader Tony Abbott was furious and led a political campaign to have Mr Slipper removed.

Mr Brough claimed in 2012 he asked Mr Ashby to get him a copy of his boss’s diary.

Selected contents were leaked to news organisations for use against Mr Slipper.

Mr Brough told 60 Minutes in September last year he believed Mr Slipper should be investigated.

“I believed he was defrauding the Commonwealth,” Mr Brough told the Nine network program.

Mr Slipper later faced charges, ultimately dismissed, over the use of some $900 in taxpayer funded taxi fares.

James Ashby, still a high profile political adviser with a pilot’s licence, is flying Pauline Hanson around as she attempts to win her first election in 20 years.

In December, 2012, Queensland Labor MP Graham Perrett wrote to the AFP calling for an investigation.

One of the allegations covered would be “that Mr Brough procured Mr Ashby and Ms Doane to provide unauthorised access to Mr Slipper’s official diary”, the letter said.

If the allegations are proven to be true, “this conduct could constitute causing unauthorised access to restricted data contrary to s478.1 of the Criminal Code ...” the letter continued.

It appears the police have been probing the matter for some time, and certainly after a complaint by Mr Slipper himself.

In October this year a senior AFP officer wrote to Mr Perrett: “The progress and duration of the investigation is determined by a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control.

“I can assure you the AFP is investigating the allegations thoroughly and comprehensively and is working diligently to expedite the matter.”

Mr Brough confirmed the AFP search in a statement, saying he had been asked to provide

“any documentation relating to allegations involving the disclosure of diary notes of Mr Slipper.”.

“I can also confirm that I provided the exact same material to the AFP as I previously provided to the Federal Court,” said Mr Brough.

“Furthermore I advised the AFP that I would be happy to meet with them at any time in the future if need be.”

Originally published as PM Malcolm Turnbull stands by Mal Brough after AFP launches three raids in connection with documents of Peter Slipper