Senior AFP officer insists pollies’ texts be removed from raid evidence
During the raid on a News Corp journalist’s home on Tuesday, seniors AFP officers insisted text messages from two Labor pollies be removed from evidence, stating: “We don’t want politicians.”
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Federal Police officers excluded politicians from the hunt for sources during their raid on Annika Smethurst’s home this week.
On Tuesday, seven AFP officers raided the journalist’s home in relation to a 2018 story on a plan to broaden the powers of the Australian Signals Directorate to spy on Australian citizens.
As well as rummaging through Smethurst’s property, a police digital forensics team scanned Smethurst’s iPhone, using keyword searches to find references to the story.
During the search, the AFP identified a number of text conversations with senior politicians, including Labor MPs Richard Marles and Murray Watt, in the weeks after the story had been published. Neither politician was named in the search warrant.
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At 2pm on Tuesday two officers identified a text message between Smethurst and Senator Watt, who, after the story’s publication, pursued the matter during a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra.
Smethurst had also contacted Mr Marles to seek comment in his role as opposition defence spokesman. Smethurst’s phone also contained unrelated text exchanges with scores of other politicians.
During the raid, AFP officers initially told Smethurst they would seize the conversations with Mr Marles and Senator Watt — but then a senior AFP officer intervened.
The senior officer said “We don’t want politicians”, before instructing a junior officer to remove text exchanges with politicians from evidence.
Parliamentary privilege gives MPs and senators freedom of speech in parliament and covers other parliamentary business without interference from the courts.
An AFP spokeswoman said: “The AFP does not comment on operational matters and will not be commenting on what activities the investigations have or will be taking in relation to these matters.”
Smethurst’s office in Parliament House, Canberra, was not searched.
Police would be required to notify parliament’s presiding officers — Senate president Scott Ryan and House of Representatives Speaker Tony Smith — before raiding the office at Parliament House.
The ABC’s headquarters in Ultimo were searched by the AFP over stories about alleged war crimes by Australians serving in Afghanistan — despite a former Defence officer, David McBride, having been charged after admitting being a source.
Originally published as Senior AFP officer insists pollies’ texts be removed from raid evidence
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