Michaelia Cash and Michael Keenan refused to give AFP statements over AWU raid tip-offs

Michaelia Cash and Michael Keenan twice refused to provide statements to the AFP over media tip offs on AWU raids.

Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash. Picture: AAP

Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash and former justice minister Michael Keenan twice refused to provide witness statements to an Australian Federal Police probe into the media being tipped off about raids on the Australian Workers Union.

The AFP also revealed it believed some evidence relating to the case had been destroyed.

Senator Cash’s former media adviser David De Garis has admitted to deleting text messages he exchanged with Mr Keenan’s then-adviser Michael Tetlow about them leaking news of the 2017 raids to the media.

AFP Deputy Commissioner Leanne Close told Senate estimates on Monday that the AFP believed it gave sufficient evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for charges to be laid over the unauthorised leak.

“However, it was lacking some witness statements and, on that basis, the Commonwealth DPP wrote to us, saying there were no reasonable prospects for a conviction in this matter,” she said.

Ms Close said that as part of its investigation, the AFP wanted to speak to Senator Cash and Mr Keenan but they twice declined to give witness statements and instead sent the AFP a letter.

Former Justice Minister Michael Keenan. Picture: AAP

Senator Cash told the Federal Court last week that when she sent the letter attaching a copy of her previous evidence to Senate estimates, she knew Mr De Garis had leaked news of the raids to the media. Asked by AWU lawyer Caryn van Proctor if she told the AFP it was Mr De Garis, Senator Cash said: “They did not ask … I referred them to my Senate Hansard. They had no further questions.”

Ms Close said the AFP wanted to speak to Senator Cash and Mr Keenan but they chose not to “as is their legal right”.

Senator Cash’s former chief of staff Ben Davies told the Federal Court that a then-staffer with the Registered Organisations Commission, Mark Lee, told him in advance about the raids. Mr Davies said he passed the information to Mr De Garis and they agreed he would tip off journalists. He said Mr Lee, then a media adviser with the commission, gave him the tip-off when they were discussing arrangements for Mr Lee to start work for Senator Cash.

Mr Davies said Mr Lee told him the commission was embarking on the raids after a tip from a “whistleblower” about the potential destruction of documents by the AWU.

Mr Davies agreed the presence of the media while the warrants were being executed would be “detrimental” to Bill Shorten. He said there were political impli­cations as the commission investigation related to donations made by the AWU when Mr Shorten was national secretary, that its leadership might have been trying to destroy evidence unfavourable to him, and the inference there was evidence of “some kind of cover-up”.

While Mr Davies said he considered there were obvious political implications, he said he did not regard it of sufficient relevance to tell Senator Cash. He said he and Mr De Garis agreed the latter would contact the media and ask if they knew about the imminent search warrants and if not, tell them the information on a “confidential background basis”.