Peter Wicks writes in IndependentAustralia (20.6.16):
‘As I write this, the Federal Police are raiding Labor Party electorate offices as well as the private residences of Labor staffers.
‘The raids appear to be in order to stem leaks of information relating to the disaster Malcolm Turnbull turned the National Broadband Network into whilst he was communications minister. Heaven forbid we find out just how much taxpayer money was wasted under his control and why the vast majority of us are not even close to having the NBN at home.
‘I am not suggesting the Federal Police were acting on the behest of the Government, but the timing is awfully convenient. For the Federal Police to perform a raid during an election campaign that is designed to stop leaks against a sitting Prime Minister is pretty bizarre timing. ‘Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus was on Lateline as events were occurring telling viewers that these events were unprecedented and that these type of raids have never occurred during an election campaign. Dreyfuss also issued a press release on the raids. ‘However, Mark Dreyfus was wrong.
‘Last election, a raid was not only carried out during an election campaign, it appeared to be choreographed to occur during the then Opposition leader’s campaign launch at the National Press Club.
‘The Opposition leader at the time was Tony Abbott and the raid was on the electorate office and home of Craig Thomson, when he was arrested for charges he was later found not guilty of in near totality.’