NBN raids bad news for both parties, says Ellen Whinnett

IT is unprecedented, and deeply discomforting, for police to raid a political office in the middle of an election campaign, writes Ellen Whinnett.

• AFP raids cause chaos but hurt Turnbull: Laurie Oakes
• Australian Federal Police raid Melbourne Labor offices
• Bad night at office as AFP raid Labor

IT is unprecedented, and deeply discomforting, for police to raid a political office in the middle of an election campaign.

It is damaging for the Labor Party to have the media photograph police sifting through their offices and searching the home of one of their staff, sheets covering the windows like it was a murder investigation.

It is also damaging for the Coalition, because accusations immediately started to fly that they were somehow involved in the timing of it.

Senator Stephen Conroy.

The raids, searching for evidence of leaked documents, disrupted the entire election campaign, resulting in both sides of politics being forced to answer questions about it, and being unable to talk about the issues they wanted to campaign on.

On that basis, it’s easy to conclude that the whole sorry mess should have been put off until after the election.

The documents from the NBN Co, which appeared to suggest Malcolm Turnbull’s new NBN project was operating poorly, had already been leaked. The damage, commercially or politically, had already been done.

Then-Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull holds a press conference at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Office.

But delaying an investigation on that basis means asking the Australian Federal Police to take into consideration the political climate when they’re working on their case.

It could also have meant the police delaying their raids for another six weeks, until the July 2 poll. What evidence (if any exists) was destroyed or lost in that time?

Labor, which initially implied the AFP was dancing to the government’s tune by launching the raids mid-campaign, crab-walked away from that yesterday and instead suggested the government pressured NBN to complain to the police.

Asking police to factor in politics when making operational decisions is a slippery slope, and not one Australians would support.

Originally published as NBN raids bad news for both parties, says Ellen Whinnett