Labor pin hopes on NBN legal argument — AFP raids

Australian Federal Police (AFP) will conduct a raid to access the emails of Labor staff members at Parliament House in Canberra as part of an ongoing NBN investigation, a senior Labor senator has been advised.

Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy has accused the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of an “extraordinary attack on the parliament” in the light of further raids into the leaking of documents from the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Mr Conroy, who has provoked anger in the government by suggesting the Coalition is behind the raids, said an argument that the NBN Co was not a commonwealth entity meant the AFP investigation may not have legal justification.

The Australian Greens have responded to the AFP action, saying they are “deeply troubled by the AFP raids inside Parliament House” and called on NBN Co management to “simply come clean on whatever it is they are trying to hide”.

“The whole investigation is about covering up Malcolm Turnbull’s incompetent administration of the NBN and its rollout and its cost”, he said.

“All of the information they gained when they raided my office back during the election campaign is now in the safe of the parliamentary clerk of the Senate”, he told ABC radio.

“Our obligation to the people of Australia is to expose waste and mismanagement by the Turnbull Government and what we’re seeing here is an attempt to intimidate people to not actually do their parliamentary duties”, he said.

“This is an absolute abuse of the process”, he said.

Senator Conroy claimed parliamentary privilege over all of the correspondence – a claim that will be tested when Parliament resumes.

Fairfax Media understands the raids are expected at 10am.

The AFP executed search warrants on the 19th of May on the offices of Senator Conroy, as well as the home of Andy Byrne, a Labor staffer for opposition communications spokesman Jason Clare.

The Australian Federal Police and the Department of Parliamentary Services have been contacted for comment.

Mr Turnbull said it was “very important to remember that the Australian Federal Police act independently of government”.

Fifield rejected the suggestion that nbn had stepped out of the bounds of its authority to request an investigation.

Senator Fifield said he had complete confidence in the AFP and that it was “outrageous” of Senator Conroy to try and besmirch the organisation’s reputation.