Serious breach of protocols in Home Affairs

A Department of Home Affairs (DHA) contractor suspected of illegally sending classified documents to an unsecured location was allowed to continue working in the public service.

The man is alleged to have stripped the “classified” status from files relating to 500 departmental projects, before forwarding them to his personal email address to access at home.

His unauthorised activity is believed to have taken place from as early as 2020 until the man’s contract ceased in June 2021, and to have involved projects across the Home Affairs portfolio, including Australian Border Force data.

The man was later hired for contract work with another large federal government department on project management, despite several former colleagues within DHA’s intelligence branch declining to provide personal references.

Read more: ABC, 30 May 2022