Sensitive parliamentary communications leaked by uncleared contractor

According to ABC on 1 December 2025, around 100,000 emails involving parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, and security officers were handed over to the law firm HWL Ebsworth within the same year. However, the third-party contractor hired by the firm, the digital forensics company Transperfect Legal, did not have the necessary security clearance. After the issue came to light, the communications were recalled, but the incident exposed significant weaknesses in parliamentary data management and confidentiality procedures.

Liberal Senator James McGrath stated that handing highly sensitive information to “unauthorised” personnel is a serious breach of responsibility for both parliamentary security and the safety of all parliamentary staff. He also criticised the department for major shortcomings in data handling and risk assessment. Critics further expressed concern that the incident could create potential vulnerabilities exploitable by malicious actors or foreign entities.

The Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) has indicated that it will face scrutiny at the upcoming Senate budget hearings and emphasised that it is reviewing internal security procedures to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Experts have recommended that Parliament reassess contractor security clearances and access permissions to ensure all sensitive information is protected at the highest level.