Penny Wong allegedly took confidential Budget papers from a secure lockup ahead of the official release time, before refusing to come out when security arrived to claim them back.
Half an hour earlier, Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen and Labor MP Jenny Macklin were accused of being ‘argumentative’ with staff at the same lockup – before Senator Wong arrived and allegedly took the budget books, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The two ALP members were reportedly prevented from leaving the official lockup with the papers in tow at 7pm, half an hour before the strict embargo was lifted.
Three female officials reported Mr Bowen and Ms Macklin to senior Treasury staff over the confrontation.
Labor Senator Penny Wong is accused of taking confidential Budget documents before Treasury deadlines
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen was accused of being ‘argumentative’ with Treasury members of staff just half an hour before Senator Wong turned up to take the documents
Jenny Macklin (centre) was accused by three members of Treasury staff of being ‘confrontational’ when speaking to them with Mr Bowen
Security teams were called in but the politicians defended themselves, saying the government was breaching protocol by not allowing them to take the documents 30 minutes before the deadline – as they claimed they had done before.
Senator Wong reportedly then turned up and took the documents before returning to her own office.
She then allegedly refused to come out when the head of Treasury Security arrived to retrieve the documents.
Government sources familiar with the heated conversation in the Opposition lockup claimed Mr Bowen and Ms Macklin’s conduct towards the young women was ‘unwarranted’.
Treasury was trying to enforce strict rules that the Budget is embargoed until 7.30pm and no one can leave the lockup zone with the documents until then.
MPs have permission to leave at 7pm to attend Parliament, but according to these Treasury rules they cannot take their documents with them.
Labor MP Jenny Macklin is understood to have told the officials: ‘I know the rules.’
Labor rejects that Senator Wong, Ms Macklin or Mr Bowen behaved in anything other than a polite and respectful manner.
When Senator Wong slipped out of the lockup with the Budget papers at around 7pm, the Treasury Security head went to her office to retrieve the documents.
Mr Bowen argued that the government had acted against convention in not allowing them to take the documents
But Senator Wong reportedly did not come out of her office to speak with him and declined to return the papers.
Treasury would not comment on whether it had launched a formal investigation into the security breach.
Speaking outside Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday morning, Mr Bowen described the allegations as ‘just wrong’ and said labelled the accusations as a ‘desperate attempt at a distraction by the Government’.
‘Senator Wong did not smuggle out the Budget papers from the Budget lock up. She carried them out under her arm as she was entitled to do, as every Member of the Opposition has done for as long as anybody can remember,’ he said.
‘It is the case that Treasury officials stopped Jenny Macklin and I and asked us to leave the Budget papers behind.
‘This was the first time this has ever happened and we did question that decision but the conversation was respectful, the Treasury officials were doing their job.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Senator Wong and Ms Macklin for comment.