'dirt Unit' Misused Laptops For Poll Work: Labor

The Age

Monday November 28, 2005

JEWEL TOPSFIELD, CANBERRA

A CONTENTIOUS government information unit - dubbed the "dirt unit" by former Labor leader Mark Latham - received 11 extra laptop computers at taxpayers' expense during last year's federal election, the Opposition says.

Labor spokesman for public accountability Kelvin Thompson claims the computers given to staff in the Government Members Secretariat were used for political campaigning.

"For the Department of Finance to give the Government Members Secretariat additional laptops during the election campaign is outrageous and quite improper," Mr Thomson said yesterday.

"The department did not go to the Labor Party and say: 'Here are 11 laptops to use for the election campaign'; it didn't go to the Greens or the Democrats."

According to a letter from the Department of Finance and Administration, obtained by The Age, the secretariat requested on June 29 last year that the hard drives on its laptop computers be reconfigured to allow staff to carry out duties not related to the Finance Department during the election period. It was estimated it would be cheaper to temporarily provide 11 extra laptops than reconfigure the existing computers, the letter said.

The laptops were provided to the staff between July 17 and October 22 last year, at a cost of $1636 a month.

"It is clear the laptops weren't going to be used to send emails to their mums, they wanted to engage in hardcore political campaigning without being traceable," Mr Thomson said.

"The Liberal Party is treating taxpayers' funds as if they were their own private resource."

But a spokesman for Minister of State Eric Abetz said secretariat staff wanted their laptops to be connected to the main database while they were travelling during the election campaign.

They received the replacement laptops after being told that connecting their existing laptops could pose a risk to the finance department's IT system.

The spokesman said the laptops did not have to be bought specially but were supplied from existing department stock. He said it was legitimate to use entitlements to campaign for re-election: "Every computer and every photocopier in every political office around the country is use for campaigning during an election."

The secretariat, which has 11 staff and costs about $1.3 million a year, was set up in 1996 to provide information and support to Government MPs. Labor claims the secretariat is aimed at seeking political advantage and discrediting the Opposition.

© 2005 The Age

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