Cabinet committee blocked plan to double Australia’s support to Pacific, election-eve leak reveals

Scott Morrison joins other leaders at last year’s Pacific Islands Forum. Marise Payne’s proposal to double Australia’s support to the region was knocked back by the national security committee, a pre-election leak has revealed. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The Morrison government has been hit by an election-eve leak that cabinet’s national security committee blocked a proposal by the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, to double Australia’s support to the Pacific.

Labor said the “extraordinary” pre-election leak, first reported by the Australian newspaper, showed the government was “falling apart”, while Scott Morrison insisted the committee was “extremely tight”.