Defence department secretary Meghan Quinn during Senate estimates on Thursday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP View image in fullscreen Defence department secretary Meghan Quinn during Senate estimates on Thursday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Australian politics Defence backed claim that social media footage of public servants could invite bullying Official’s controversial September request for Senate hearing footage to not be shared on social media has been heavily criticised
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Prefer the Guardian on Google The secretary of the defence department approved a senior official’s controversial idea to tell a Senate hearing that footage of public servants giving evidence should not be shared on social media because it could invite online bullying and raise national security concerns.
Emails obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information reveal deputy secretary Celia Perkins’ planned request to the parliamentary inquiry was flagged with the offices of deputy prime minister Richard Marles and assistant defence minister Peter Khalil, and received the backing of department secretary Meghan Quinn.
Perkins – defence’s deputy secretary of security and estate – drew criticism across the political divide with her 4 September statement to a committee hearing, where she said defence witnesses “do not consent to the reposting of our evidence to social media sites”.
Read more She pointed to a submission from the secretaries board of the Australian Public Service , which had raised similar concerns about evidence being taken out of context, and alleged “edited and embellished” videos from previous hearings had “generated significant highly inappropriate and highly personal commentary that was distressing for staff and invited ridicule, hostility and abuse”.
The Greens senator David Shoebridge instantly objected, saying: “This is evidence given in an open public hearing … These witnesses do not get to censor what the Australian public sees.”
The committee rejected Perkins’ request on the advice of the Senate clerk.
Newly revealed correspondence shows that concerns about online bullying, as well as national security fears, were used as a “defensible” reason to not share clips from hearings online – and that the plan was backed by the defence department.
“Meghan is fully supportive, as is [Khalil]. I discussed today in a meeting with [Khalil] and staff from [Marles] and his office,” Perkins told two fellow deputy secretaries two days before the hearing.
Guardian Australia requested documents under FOI from the defence department relating to the preparation of Perkins’ statement. Emails between senior department officials showed Perkins’ proposal to make such a statement had been strongly endorsed by her colleagues and superiors, and that she had told Quinn on 25 August that officials could be put in danger if their evidence before public committees was published online.
“As senior leaders in Defence – we actively discourage security clearance holders from a social media presence that identifies us and our roles,” Perkins wrote to Quinn, outlining “core arguments” to support her statement.
“And these post[s], designed to invite outraged responses – increase the personal risk from malign online actors, including cyber and foreign intelligence threats.”
The offices of Marles and Khalil were contacted for comment. Neither provided an on-record response, but Guardian Australia unde…