AFP raid stirs up election dust storm

RAIDS ON LABOR-LINKED PREMISES - A RUNDOWN

WHAT'S HAPPENED?

*AFP officers on Thursday night raided Labor Senator Stephen Conroy's office and the home of a Labor staffer in Melbourne.

*It followed what amounts to a complaint by national broadband network builder NBN Co lodged in December 2015 about leaks.

*Documents were seized with the help of an NBN staffer on hand to provide expert knowledge of contents.

AND NBN WENT TO THE AFP BECAUSE?

*NBN Co, which is government owned, may have a leaker.

*Someone's been giving sensitive, commercial in-confidence information to media outlets.

*The information relates to network rollout delays, cost blow-outs.

SO WHAT'S THE FUSS?

*Labor is sceptical about the timing, in week two of a federal election campaign, and senses political motivations.

*It claims the raid was leaked to media outlets ahead of its own leader being informed by the AFP.

*The Greens are also suspicious, saying the timing has a "whiff" about it.

*Senator Stephen Conroy sits on a Senate committee that oversees NBN Co and has access to sensitive information.

*Labor's been critical of the NBN under former communications minister and now-PM Malcolm Turnbull. Is there a link, it wonders?

HAS THE AFP EXPLAINED?

*It acted when it did because the "offending has been ongoing" since December.

*Commissioner Andrew Colvin rejects suggestions of political influence.

*Claims AFP officers may have tipped off the media have been referred to the professional standards branch.

DID THE AFP FIND ANYTHING?

*Well yes, and no.

*The AFP can't study the documents gathered because their holders have claimed parliamentary privilege.

*Parliamentary privilege protects the activities of MPs, like Senator Conroy.

*The documents have now been sealed, pending the claims being validated.

*No one knows exactly when this will be settled. The election's on July 2.

WHAT'S THE GOVERNMENT SAID?

*How dare Labor politicise the AFP.

*Nothing to do with us, it's an AFP matter.

(Source: AFP, ALP press conferences)