Labor has called on the government to step in to fix what it describes as the "ongoing mismanagement" of the security branch in Parliament House, after BuzzFeed News published an email in which the head of security dismissed staff concerns that their lives were being put at risk by a lack of training and equipment.
BuzzFeed News revealed the email from Graeme Anderson on Tuesday.
“From 2003 to 2016 the number of Australians killed by shark attacks was 27, the same number as died from snake bites and the same number that died from bee/wasp and hornet stings,” Anderson, the assistant secretary of the security branch of the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS), wrote.
“You’ll be relieved to know in the same period no Australian died from a biological or chemical attack.”
Officers told BuzzFeed News in May their lives had been put at risk after they were forced to wear cheap disposable painting suits (that cost just $1.38 each) when testing potentially deadly white powder that was mailed to former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Instead of following the Parliament House security manual’s “response to white powder detection” procedure and calling the ACT Fire & Rescue Hazardous Material team, officers from the building's loading dock were sent to test the powder themselves.
Security staff told BuzzFeed News they haven't been formally trained in how to operate the mobile testing device used to determine whether powder was hazardous, and despite a $126 million security upgrade currently underway in Parliament House, they are not equipped to do their jobs properly.
In the months since BuzzFeed News broke this story, whistleblowers say there has been no improvement to safety or training provided. Officers maintain their concerns are being ignored by management. They feel they have been given no option but to refuse to conduct white powder testing until they receive adequate training and equipment.
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching has called on the government to explain why more isn't being done to address staff concerns that their lives are being put at risk.
"The Morrison government must explain why it has not intervened to address the ongoing mismanagement in the Department of Parliamentary Services, particularly in the security branch," Kitching told BuzzFeed News.
"The only action the department has taken is to hunt down whistleblowers who continue to expose the department’s poor management and leadership, particularly in relation to the health and safety of building occupants, visitors to Parliament House, and its employees."
Kitching says she plans to ask DPS, one of the only government departments that is exempt from the scrutiny of the Freedom of Information Act, about the ongoing safety concerns at the next round of Senate Estimates in October.
In his email to hundreds of staff, Anderson condemned ongoing leaks from his department and told staff that after a "bad day at the office" he liked to put things in perspective by looking at a picture of Anne Frank's father standing in the attic where his family hid from the Nazis during World War II.
“There are bad days at the office, and then there are really bad days at the office," Anderson wrote. "We don’t know yet how bad a day at the office recent negative media attention is yet, but it’s highly unlikely to be as bad as poor Otto’s view from the attic."
Anderson attacked the security officers who spoke to the media about their safety concerns, describing what they did as “definitely not whistleblowing”. He said the “deliberate leaking of information undermines the legitimacy of our place in the protective security model at [Australian Parliament House]” and calls into question the professionalism of the DPS.
Anderson accused staff of not raising their concerns with management, a claim officers vehemently reject.
“Obviously the person/s responsible are doing so only for their own gratification rather than with any due care and consideration for their workmates or the reputation of DPS whom they represent,” Anderson wrote.
During Senate Estimates in May, Anderson did not deny staff’s accounts of the time he threatened to “burn the security division to the ground and start again”, saying it sounded like something he might have said.
Anderson told staff in his email: “There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’ in DPS anymore there is only ‘we’ and we will do everything in our power to get to where we need to be.”
Officers told BuzzFeed News they believe Anderson wants to rebuild the DPS from the ground up “because he doesn’t want anyone to challenge him”.
A spokesperson from DPS told BuzzFeed News that Anderson's email was intended to provide a “positive and motivating message”.
“He made some deeply personal reflections about objects in his office that he keeps to inspire him and respectfully reflected on a picture of Otto Frank he has owned for many years. There was no intention to make any comparisons with the experience of a Holocaust survivor but rather inspiration for us to keep things in perspective.
“Any other interpretation is a deliberate and malicious mischaracterisation aimed at further disrupting the operation of the branch, undermining individuals within the Department of Parliamentary Services and confidence in security at Australian Parliament House.”