Labor overruled Defence advice not to publicise problems with Pacific patrol boats, documents show

Exclusive: Government was warned that publicising issues could harm regional relationships or be exploited by criminals or bad actors

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The Australian government decided to publicly release information about problems with Pacific patrol boats despite a warning from defence officials that this could harm important regional relationships.

In previously secret advice, the Department of Defence also raised fears that potential publicity about the problems “may then be exploited by criminal networks or malign actors”.