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Tony Abbott's ministers have been told to say that "our cabinet is functioning exceptionally well," according to the daily talking points sent to ministerial advisers on Wednesday, which have been leaked to Fairfax Media.
The latest embarrassing leak comes after Prime Minister Tony Abbott reassured the Coalition party room on Tuesday that he had read the riot act to his cabinet on Monday night, warning those found to be leaking to the media would face serious consequences.
The leak also comes a day after Monday night's threadbare cabinet agenda was leaked to the Seven Network and the Guardian Australia.
The Coalition's daily "morning note" is authored in the Prime Minister's office and sent to Mr Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin, deputy chief of staff Andrew Hirst and a key grouping of ministerial advisers across the government.
It covers issues of the day that ministers may be asked about, including the China-Australia free trade agreement, embattled royal commissioner Dyson Heydon, the recent bombing in Thailand and the Prime Minister's meeting with indigenous leaders.
But it is the advice on what ministers should say, "if asked", about the government's cabinet agenda that are most revealing, with three dot points designed to shut down the issue.
- We don't comment on cabinet discussions
- The government is focused on delivering jobs and growth. Just yesterday the government announced its decision on lawfare
- In contrast to the experiences of Rudd and Gillard governments, our cabinet is functioning exceptionally well. Everyone knows that under Labor, cabinet submissions were almost never lodged on time and would instead more often arrive on the day or weekend before a cabinet meeting. Julia Gillard sent her bodyguard to NSC meetings. Our cabinet processes are far more effective and productive than Labor's chaos
Despite the morning note being quite prescriptive about what ministers should say about cabinet, Employment Minister Eric Abetz appeared to veer off-script on Wednesday.
A fired-up Senator Abetz took his "gutless" leaking colleagues to task for breaching the rules during an ABC radio interview.
On Justice Heydon, ministers have been told to say that "Labor's attacks on Justice Dyson Heydon reveal their true objective – to stop the royal commission into union governance opening up the rackets, rorts and rip-offs that continue to be exposed by this royal commission".
The note also states that "the government fully supports the professionalism and impartiality of Dyson Heydon QC – and we fully support the necessity of a royal commission into union corruption".
