Turnbull, Cabinet members use WhatsApp to communicate

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and some Cabinet ministers have used the smartphone app WhatsApp to communicate, and this has not been approved by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). According to Attorney-General George Brandis, he uses the app to communicate with Turnbull and other ministers.

At a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, it was learnt that the prime minister’s department has not taken any action over Turnbull and the government ministers’ alleged use of WhatsApp. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet deputy secretary Elizabeth Kelly said there was no follow-up to the issue because Turnbull had made public statements about the app’s appropriate use.

Brandis also confirmed that he had used the app to converse with the PM and other ministers. He told Labor’s Penny Wong that the nature of their communication was “nothing of public sensitivity” and “entirely unremarkable.”

When Wong asked if he would be willing to export his WhatsApp messaging history, Brandis declined.

Turnbull’s cyber security adviser Alastair MacGibbon has also admitted to using WhatsApp to contact Turnbull, but he told the committee that apps like WhatsApp “can increase privacy and security” based on their encryption, as compared to regular SMS messages, phone calls or emails. He assured that his messages with Turnbull using the app were “nothing at all of a national security nature.”

However, he also admitted that the ASD had not approved the use of the app or any other smartphone apps for classified or sensitive communications.

“In the information security manual published by ASD, it tells you the structure and nature of communication systems and anything that’s classified needs to go over those systems,” he was quoted by the ABC as saying.

Labor has argued that the Turnbull administration treated government security with contempt with the use of the smartphone app, which is owned by Facebook.