Albanese dodges cover-up question

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he believes the Morrison government tried to “cover up” Howard-era documents about Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war.

It comes after the revelation on New Year’s Day that 78 documents were missing from a now declassified file created in 2003, which reveal thenprime minister John Howard’s decision-making process before Australia entered the Iraq war.

The documents suggest Mr Howard had decided to join the US-led invasion before taking the matter to cabinet.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Albanese (inset) was asked if he was concerned about a “cover up” in regards to the missing documents.

“Well, that’s why we have asked Dennis Richardson to do the review,” he responded.

“I’m not aware of the circumstances. Obviously, I wasn’t a member of the cabinet in 2003.”

He went on to add there was “no public servant in Australia who is more respected” than Mr Richardson, the former defence department secretary.

Mr Richardson is due to report the results of his review in the next two weeks.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had revealed just hours before the 2003 papers were made public that the missing documents were not lost, but had not been handed over by the Morrison government to the archives, “oversights” it said was “likely as a result of Covid-19 disruptions at the time”.

The department said the missing documents had been located on December 19 and had been since transferred to the archives.

Mr Albanese said on Wednesday that he expected all the missing documents to be released by the National Archives, save for anything that could compromise national security.