In Australia it is illegal to obtain or distribute classified material
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said obtaining classified information without authority was an offence under Australian law.
"If you look at the fact that this information was held . . . on any description . . . on a secure and highly sensitive and classified database, which was clearly the property of the US, that information has apparently been accessed in an unauthorised manner, and has been provided, again presumably without authorisation, far and wide, then you would have to assume that there is a reasonable case that the act of sourcing the information did involve illegal events," Mr McClelland said.
"I mean, if you were looking at that scenario in respect to Australian law, there would be any number of Australian laws that would be applicable to such a classified database that exists in Australia. "You would have to assume, and I'm clearly not an expert on United States law, but you would have to assume similar laws would be in place there."