Penny Wong overruled department by sending observer to anti-nuclear treaty meeting

Foreign minister Penny Wong sent backbencher Susan Templeman to a meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in June. Photograph: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Penny Wong overruled her department and insisted on sending an observer to the first meeting of countries that support a landmark United Nations treaty banning nuclear weapons, new documents reveal.

A trove of documents obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws shows nervous officials warned the foreign minister of “significant” risks if Australia went to the gathering in Vienna shortly after last year’s election.