Government Loses Bid to Keep Terror Funding Documents Secret

Government

Monday, 1 June 2026, 10:13am

Michelle Rowland says keeping cabinet documents secret is normal.

In short:

The Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion rejected the government's claim to keep documents secret.

These documents are about the budget for stopping terrorism and if it went down between 2020 and 2025.

What's next?

The head of spies, Mark Burgess, said the government never asked to move resources away from stopping terrorism.

The Royal Commission rejected the government's bid to keep documents about terrorism funding secret.

The government wanted to keep these documents secret, saying it's normal for cabinet matters.

But the royal commissioner, Virginia Bell, said it's in the public interest to see these documents to know if intelligence agencies did their job before the Bondi terror attack.

The prime minister's department secretary, Steven Kennedy, argued that ministers need to know their meetings are secret.

But Virginia Bell said only she and a few others would see the documents, so there's no issue with secrecy.

The government made a claim to keep these documents secret before the Royal Commission.

Virginia Bell weighed the need to keep the documents secret against the need for the public to know.

The ruling said these documents are crucial for the commission to examine counterterrorism funding.

Access to the documents will help compare how much money was given to counterterrorism before and after the terror threat level was raised.

The question is whether intelligence agencies did their best to stop the Bondi terrorist attack, and if they had enough resources.

What is in the documents?

The royal commission wanted to see nine documents, including files from the Finance Department and the Australian Federal Police.

The main question is if the counterterrorism budget went down between 2020 and 2025.

The government said national security agencies, including ASIO, got more funding since Labor took office in 2022.

The head of ASIO, Mike Burgess, said ASIO was not told to move resources away from counterterrorism.

He said, 'I am not aware of any decision to reduce counterterror efforts to serve other priorities.'

Monday, 1 June 2026, 10:13am

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