Albanese says Morrison pressure to publise boat interception trashed convention

Anthony Albanese has accused the former government of trashing convention in its final act in office by publicising the interception of an asylum-seeker ­vessel.

Home Affairs Department secretary Michael Pezzullo. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Anthony Albanese has accused the former government of trashing convention in its final act in office by publicising the interception of an asylum-seeker ­vessel, but defended the conduct of the public service and Home Affairs Department secretary Mike Pezzullo.

The Prime Minister’s comments follow a report by Mr Pezzullo into the election-day incident that found Scott Morrison’s office had put pressure on the bureaucracy to announce that the suspected asylum-seeker vessel had entered Australian waters.

The report found the former government had briefed journalists before the announcement was made and former home ­affairs minister Karen Andrews had repeatedly urged officials to make the information public, saying “the prime minister wants a statement”.

Mr Pezzullo’s report defended the public service, saying its “apolitical character” was “preserved in this instance by the ­refusal on the part of departmental officials to amplify the public statement by sending it directly to journalists and to post it on ­social media.”

Mr Albanese on Sunday defended Mr Pezzullo, saying he “acted appropriately against the pressure from the then government” but he took aim at the ­Coalition.

“This was the final act of the Morrison government and it was one that trashed convention and sought to abuse the relationship with the public service. It was a disgraceful event.

“It should never have happened and it should never happen again,” he told Sky News.

“A convention relies upon some element of decency and goodwill. That’s the nature of convention as opposed to rules. And here we have a government that was prepared to trash the convention.

“The Morrison government weren’t so much conservatives, because conservatives believe in respecting institutions and respecting conventions. There was nothing respectful about the ­actions of the government on that day. It was opportunistic, it was unprincipled, and it was unprecedented.”

In his report, Mr Pezzullo suggested the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet might wish to consider revising the caretaker conventions in two ways.

First, to ensure conventions “do not detract from ministerial authority, and officials are obliged at all times to follow lawful directions” and second, to ensure sensitive information that was “potentially politically significant” should not be released publicly in caretaker ­periods “unless a threat to life ­exists”.

Mr Albanese said his government would “look at any of the recommendations”.

In his report, Mr Pezzullo found pressure was “placed on officials to release a public statement regarding the interception of SIEV (suspected illegal entry vessel) 915 prior to the conclusion of the operational activity”.

About noon on May 21, the then prime minister’s office directed Operation Sovereign Borders … to release a public statement within 15 minutes that the vessel had been intercepted.

The Liberal Party sent out an SMS spam text message in the afternoon saying: “BREAKING – Aust Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Aus. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today.”