Cash staffer resigns over media leak

In an embarrassment to the government, an advisor to Michaelia Cash has resigned over tipping off media about the AFP union raids.

One of Michaelia Cash’s staffers has resigned after admitting to tipping off the media about the AFP raids. Picture Gary Ramage.

A staffer to Employment Minister Michaelia Cash was forced to ­resign last night after admitting tipping off the media about Australian Federal Police raids of the Australian Workers Union.

In a severe embarrassment to the government, senior media ­adviser David De Garis resigned after making the admission to her during a break in a Senate estimates hearing.

Under intense questioning yesterday, Senator Cash had repeatedly denied she or her staff were aware of the raids until they commenced. Before the dinner break, Labor and the Senate crossbench said they would push for an inquiry into the media tip-off.

#BREAKING: @SenatorCash has admitted that a member of her staff tipped off the media about the AWU raids MORE: https://t.co/WL5pMlgwuD pic.twitter.com/AO4Wa7Wcjo

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 25, 2017

Following the admission, opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor accused Senator Cash of misleading the Senate on five occasions.

But Senator Cash insisted she became aware of the staffer’s conduct only during the dinner break.

She said the staff member ­admitted telling a journalist about the proposed raid, and the staffer told her he got the information from a “media source”.

Television crews and journalists waited outside the AWU offices in Sydney and Melbourne on Tuesday ahead of AFP officers ­arriving to seize documents.

Amid heated exchanges in Senates estimates yesterday, Senator Cash repeatedly denied that her office gave advance notice to media outlets about the AFP raids.

Registered Organisations Commissioner Mark Bielecki had said the raid went ahead because of concerns the documents held by the AWU were at risk of being concealed or destroyed. At estimates last night, Mr Bielecki said the raids were prompted by a telephone call from an unidentified person to a staffer in his office.

He told an estimates hearing that the information came from a “caller” to a staff member. He would not say whether or not the caller was anonymous.

Before the admission by Senator Cash, senator Nick Xenophon said the public deserved to know how and why the media were tipped off about the raids.

“The rule of law is being turned into a farcical sideshow with tip-offs like this,’’ he said.

If the government refused to instigate an independent inquiry, he said, a Senate inquiry would be required. “Leaving aside the historical nature of these allegations, the tip-off for these raids to the media is not only deeply prejudicial to the AWU, it can also impact severely on the professional reputations of the AFP and ROC,’’ he said.

Mr O’Connor said the ALP backed Senator Xenophon’s call. He said if the government did not agree to an independent inquiry, Labor would consider supporting a Senate inquiry.

“Turnbull and the minister have failed to answer simple yet serious questions about who tipped off the media before the raids actually occurred,’’ he said.

Senator Cash had earlier claimed ALP questions about who tipped off the media were designed to deflect from the “very serious questions that need to be ­answered” by Bill Shorten over ­donations made by his former union.

Michaelia Cash during the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage.