Tense exchanges unfolded in parliament after the Albanese government faced questions over a briefing document that federal MP Helen Haines' office reportedly received from the Prime Minister's office and that journalists were said to have been given access to. According to a television news outlet, the document was passed along by that office shortly after Haines raised objections to a six million dollar grant directed at Marrickville Golf Club in Sydney's inner west.
The document bore the name of the Prime Minister's deputy director of communications yet drew no conclusions about misconduct. It detailed a series of funding requests Haines had submitted on behalf of projects within her regional Victorian electorate, along with suggested lines of inquiry for reporters to follow up.
At a Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee hearing held on Thursday, Pauline Sullivan — first assistant secretary within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet — was called upon to answer questions relating to the document. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie brought the media reporting to the committee's attention and put it directly to Sullivan, who indicated she had no prior knowledge of it.
McKenzie outlined what had been reported — that metadata pointed to a Word document on the Prime Minister and Cabinet IT system as the origin of the document — and sought an assurance that no departmental officer had played any part in its creation, review, or verification. Sullivan replied that the metadata claim was entirely new to her and that she was therefore not in a position to confirm or deny departmental involvement. When McKenzie asked Sullivan to take the matter on notice, Sullivan agreed.
On the further question of whether any departmental officer's involvement in producing or reviewing such a document would constitute a breach of Australian Public Service values or the APS code of conduct, Sullivan indicated it was not appropriate for her to offer a view at that point. When Sullivan was asked whether she had ever assessed staff members under the code of conduct, she replied that no such assessment had taken place, after which McKenzie put to her whether she would nonetheless be comfortable with those staff members compiling information files on politicians.
McKenzie confirmed that she had been seeking an opinion, and added that the matter had not previously come to his attention. The assertion, rooted in a single media account, has not been independently tested against available evidence. Sullivan indicated he had no awareness of the matter and had not yet seen any media coverage of it, stating he would not venture a position without first having the relevant information before him. McKenzie responded by telling him to note that formally, and advised that she intended to follow up with the Prime Minister's office and Cabinet the week after.
When asked about the document's origins earlier that week, Prime Minister Albanese pushed back on the characterisation of it as a personal attack, describing it as a record of funding associated with Helen Haines that, in his view, demonstrated how representatives advocate for their communities.
Haines was taken by emergency services to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where doctors removed both of her legs as a result of wounds she is reported to have sustained in an attack on Monday afternoon. By Saturday morning, updates indicated that her condition had steadied and her recovery was moving in a positive direction.
Charges against Brendan Nugent, 43, allege that he drove a four-wheel drive vehicle into the woman outside Haines' electorate office in Wangaratta, a regional centre roughly three hours north-east of Melbourne. Nugent appeared briefly before the court on Wednesday to answer a string of charges that included dangerous driving causing serious harm. Neighbours who spoke to authorities described him as living alone on a rural property outside Tarrawingee.
Defence lawyer Chirag Patel raised the matter of his client's psychological state before the court, noting that no prior mental health diagnosis existed but that a formal assessment was needed. Bail was not sought, and the matter was adjourned with Nugent held on remand until a court appearance scheduled for February.
