O’Neil,Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and their staff were blindsided at a Senate hearing last month when Foster released new details of ex-immigration detainees’ criminal records in response to a request from Liberal senator James Paterson.
Foster was asked several times on Wednesday night by Paterson and Greens senator David Shoebridge about the discussions she had with ministers and their staff before and after she tabled the document on February 12 outlining the criminal records of 149 detainees released after the High Court overturned indefinite immigration detention.
Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster;Home Affairs Minister Clare O’NeilAlex Ellinghausen
Seven of the ex-detainees had been convicted of murder or attempted murder,37 of sexual offences and 72 of assault and violent offending,kidnapping or armed robbery.
Foster declined to detail private discussions,saying “the strength of the relationship between ministers and their staff depends on being able to have trusted conversations”.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil during one of her seven answers to the same question from Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday.Alex Ellinghausen
This masthead revealed that Foster’s decision to table the documents at the start of the hearing rather than answer questions verbally later in the day stunned O’Neil and Giles,who had hoped to manage the timing of the information’s release.
Sky News reported on Wednesday morning that O’Neil had “torn strips” off Foster in a private meeting after the hearing,and that the departmental secretary had been spotted leaving the office visibly upset. Three sources,who asked not to be named,confirmed this account to this masthead.
Foster told the senate hearing on Wednesday evening she would not “talk about discussions between ministers and myself. The reason I have corrected the record on the issue of verbal abuse is because it was in the media today,and it’s a very public and relevant issue and it is utterly untrue”.
“The strength of the relationship between ministers and their staff depends on being able to have trusted conversations. As I said before,I think the pointed issue is not whether or not who said what to whom,but whether or not I felt or feel any sense of pressure or influence to behave in any way other than with complete integrity in front of the committee.”
Foster said she had a good relationship with both ministers and had consulted other departmental secretaries about how best to release the information about the criminal records of the ex-detainees.
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley asked O’Neil seven questions in question time about the apparent argument,including whether the minister had “verbally abused” Foster,whether O’Neil had apologised to her secretary and whether other staff had witnessed the incident.
“Did you verbally abuse the secretary,causing the secretary to leave the office in tears?”
Ley also asked O’Neil in parliament whether it was true that,as revealed by this masthead,the ministers’ offices had attempted to keep the document “hidden from the Australian public. Is this true,minister?”
O’Neil did not directly answer or deny the series of questions put to her by Ley in Question Time.
“I work very closely with the secretary of my department,and let me talk about some of the work we’re doing so constructively together,” she said. “As I have spoken to the parliament about before,we have a Home Affairs Department with some very,very significant issues.
“I would say to the deputy leader of the opposition,my secretary and I work closely together. It is why I was supportive of the decision of the prime minister and PM&C[Prime Minister and Cabinet] to appoint secretary Foster to the role.”
Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster.Alex Ellinghausen
“We have a significant job to do and I’m here to do it,to serve the national interest,not the political interest of the Liberal Party.”
Giles denied a report that he had not spoken to Foster for a week after the document had been tabled by the secretary.
“The allegation that it is based on is simply not true ... I can say further to that,I speak with Ms Foster very regularly,as I did when she was the associate secretary,” he said. “She is a highly credentialed public servant who I am privileged to work with together with my friend,the minister for home affairs.”
In response to a series of detailed questions to Foster for the original story,a spokesperson for the department said that “Ms Foster meets regularly with ministers to discuss a range of matters that impact the department and its functions. The department does not comment on the content of those discussions”.
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