It's been 114 days since the Australian Federal Police (AFP) launched an investigation into a media tip-off about police raids on union offices, and employment minister Michaelia Cash is still refusing to answer questions.
Eleven questions on notice from the Employment Committee on December 1 last year – convened to deal with the scandal – remain unanswered by the minister.
The questions aim to probe whether anyone else in Cash's office was involved, and the discussions the minister had with her former staffer after he confessed to the leaks.
BuzzFeed News revealed in October that Cash's former senior media adviser David De Garis had tipped off several media organisations about raids by the AFP on Australian Workers' Union offices.
The raids were part of an investigation by the Turnbull government-established watchdog the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) into donations made by the union over a decade ago, when it was led by current Labor leader Bill Shorten.
Cash denied her office had any involvement in the leak five times in Senate Estimates last year, before announcing De Garis was behind it. After admitting he tipped of the media, De Garis resigned in October.
"Is it correct then that you've also never spoken to Mr De Garis about whether he discussed either the plan to leak, or the action of leaking, with any other ministerial office, including the prime minister's?" Labor senator Murray Watt asked Cash at the Employment Committee 28 days ago.
"What I'm asking is whether you ever asked him or spoke to him about whether he discussed this matter with anyone else in your office?"
Watts also asked whether anyone else from the minister's office had left since the leaks were revealed. BuzzFeed News revealed last month that four people, including the media adviser who worked alongside De Garis, have left since October.
Cash has refused to answer other questions from the same hearing with the claim of public interest immunity. She also blamed the ongoing AFP investigation and impending Federal Court challenge into the legality of the raids lodged by the AWU as reasons for her silence.
The answers to the 11 questions were due on January 19, so are now 28 days overdue.
On Thursday, Cash gave the media nine minutes notice that she was holding a press conference, her first in Canberra since August 10. In the last six months she has only held one other press conference, in Perth on January 18.
She called the press conference to talk about the latest labour force figures, and became annoyed with journalists when asked about the raids.
QUESTION: Senator Cash, is your office being investigated by the AFP over the media tip-off of the AWU raid.
MINISTER CASH: No.
QUESTION: If your office isn’t being investigated, why did you claim public interest immunity in Senate committee hearings?
MINISTER CASH: Because as an AFP investigation, the AFP itself claimed public interest immunity.
QUESTION: But if your office isn’t being investigated, wouldn’t releasing those internal communications demonstrate that you had, and your office had, no role in coordinating the media tip offs about the raids?
MINISTER CASH: Again, I have complied at all times with the law and the procedures of the Senate. We are here though to talk about jobs growth. Would you like to ask a question on jobs growth? Would anyone like to ask a question about jobs growth?
QUESTION: On Mark Lee’s attempt to get a job in your office, why was it inappropriate for him to no longer take that role?
MINISTER CASH: I answered these questions last year. Again, would anyone like to talk about jobs growth?
Labor has accused Cash of purposely stalling by not providing answers.
“Minister Cash is in this scandal up to her neck," Labor's workplace relations spokesperson Brendan O'Connor told BuzzFeed News, who is calling on Cash to front up and answer the questions.
"She has an obligation to answer a number of questions that were taken on notice and due more than two weeks ago," O'Connor said. "If senator Cash cannot answer them, Australians have a right to ask, is she covering up the extent of her involvement, and that of her office, in the leak of the ROC raid?"
O'Connor says Cash's handling of the situation as "wholly deficient".