The Department of Parliamentary Services has admitted it has failed to locate a 1,000-page manual about security measures at Parliament House that was lost by a private contractor in November last year.
The department told a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday it hired a private investigator who was “known by reputation” to look into the matter in February, when the contractor revealed the document was missing.
The investigation wrapped up in March and the document was never found, the DPS officials confirmed.
But they said they were satisfied there was no risk to security at Parliament.
“You start off with the worst case scenario. Once the investigation was completed, our fears were allayed considerably,” President of the Senate, Stephen Parry, said during Senate Estimates.
“We’re comfortable at the moment that there is no compromise to the security arrangements.”
The private contractor that lost the document was not named in the hearing.
A DHS official said they were “still involved” with the contract, and may be working with other government departments as well.
The company was asked to improve its handling of documents and had the wording of its contract modified, the officials said.
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, who raised the issue, said the admonishment sounded like a “rap on the knuckles”.
Document related to ‘future’ security
Senator Parry said the document related to “matters that would have taken place in the future”, rather than existing security systems at Parliament.
“[That] gives the department the opportunity to modify and change if a risk is deemed to be out there because of this issue,” he said.
He said there were a number of factors that reduced the risk of the missing document. The manual was an “early draft”, he said, and portions of the draft had since been modified or rendered redundant.
Senator Kitching said the missing document was a “huge problem”.
A major security upgrade to Parliament House is underway. It includes a around the perimeter of the building.
