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James Massola
Treasurer Wayne Swan’s office warned parliamentary security staff an intruder had entered an off-limits area of Parliament House minutes before the man interrupted a press conference and handed Prime Minister Julia Gillard a piece of paper.
But despite the warning, security were unable to stop the intruder during the August incident, Department of Parliamentary Services secretary Carol Mills told Senate Estimates on Monday.
Ms Mills said that a mobile security team had been immediately dispatched to Parliament House’s “Blue Room” – a room metres away from the Prime Minister’s office, where press conferences are held – but by the time security arrived the intruder was already leaving the room.
Afterwards the man, Artem Naumov, 35, a Russian national and Australian resident, was escorted from the building by security.
Under questioning from Liberal Senator Scott Ryan during her first Senate Estimates appearance since being appointed head of the department, Ms Mills also revealed the intruder had attempted to gain access to Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan’s office and the office of then-Speaker Peter Slipper during 40 minutes in the off-limits area of the building.
At one point in the hearing, a surprised Senator Ryan asked: “So after we’d had a call from the ministerial wing and the Deputy Prime Minister’s office that there was an intruder in the building, that intruder got within a couple of feet of the Prime Minister?”
“That’s correct”, Ms Mills said, adding that she “found it a most unsatisfactory situation, yes”.
Ms Mills also revealed the intruder had caused a minor disturbance during a committee hearing which was open to the public about ten days earlier and had been known to security staff.
When the man applied to attend another committee hearing on the day of the incident, an extra security guard was placed in the hearing, but a “unique” human error had allowed the man to leave the public area of Parliament House.
The breach sparked a $30,000 independent investigation into security arrangements at Parliament House and with the first part of the investigation completed, Ms Mills said there had not been a systemic security failure.
“What was very evident immediately after the incident occurred [was] that it was a human error. The reason there wasn’t somebody patrolling the area that is normally covered, that enabled the person to exit a committee room and get into a private area, was that we had not staffed the areas as we normally do,’’ she said.
“It happened within a matter of moments. It was not possible, it would not have been physically possible for someone to have got there any faster,’’ Ms Mills said, although she added that the mobile security team had arrived after about two minutes.
The Departmental Secretary suggested at one point that the man may have been able to roam the private areas of the building for 40 minutes because media staff in Parliament House often dressed in similarly casual attire.
Ms Mills, who only took over as Department of Parliamentary Services secretary on May 28, said she was confident a similar breach could not occur again and that new security arrangements had been put in place.
Senator Ryan later told The Australian Financial Review that “by definition” security had failed on the day.
“It is ridiculous that an intruder, who was brought to the attention of Parliamentary Security only days before, was subsequently free to wander the building and approach the Prime Minister,” he said.
“It is just lucky that on this occasion, the intruder’s motives were not more sinister. I hope the government encourages the department to make security at Parliament House its highest priority.”
The breach of security occurred on August 23, when the man walked into the press conference and attempted to hand Ms Gillard a piece of paper.
Asked by reporters at the time, Ms Gillard said she had “no idea” what the document was and that she had not felt threatened.