Former media adviser Mark Lee denies tip off to Michaelia Cash’s chief of staff

A former media adviser with the Registered Organisations Commission has contradicted prior evidence about tipping off Michaelia Cash’s office about AWU raids.

Senator Michaelia Cash appearing at senate estimates at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

A former media adviser with the Registered Organisations Commission Mark Lee has denied tipping off Michaelia Cash’s former chief of staff Ben Davies, about raids on the Australian Workers Union, contradicting court evidence by Mr Davies.

Appearing in Federal Court today, Mr Lee said a commission media officer Greg Russo told him on the day of the raids that the commission was applying for search warrants to execute on AWU.

But he said when he and Mr Davies spoke by telephone in the hours before the warrants were executed on the AWU offices they did not talk about the warrants.

He said the conversation related to him starting work for Senator Cash and they did not discuss the raids.

Mr Lee said at time of phone call he did not know the warrants had been issued and did not know they were going to be executed.

Former Registered Organisations Commission Media adviser Mark Lee leaves the Federal Court in Melbourne today. Picture: Aaron Francis

“It couldn’t have been me,’’ he told the court.

His evidence contradicts evidence by Mr Davies to the trial that Mr Lee told him about the imminent execution of the warrants during the phone call.

Mr Davies previously told the court Mr Lee told him the Australian Federal Police would in hours execute search warrants on behalf of the commission at the Sydney and Melbourne offices of Bill Shorten’s former union, the AWU.

Mr Davies said Mr Lee told him the commission was acting on a tip from a “whistleblower’’ about the potential destruction of documents by the AWU.

Mr Davies said he passed the information to Senator Cash’s then senior media adviser David De Garis and they agreed he would tip off journalists.