SYDNEY -- The Australian government has been busted sourcing old information.
As the political hounds focused on the fact the government had potentially revealed sensitive information to all of Australia, a sharp-eyed observer spotted a funnier stuff-up.
The photo, which was taken on Wednesday by Fairfax photographer Alex Ellinghausen, shows Prime Minister Tony Abbott with Duncan Lewis, director of Australia's spy organisation, ASIO, pointing at a map of the terrorist strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
Unfortunately for Abbott and ASIO, the map they're using is a bit out of date. More precisely, it's a year old.
. @washingtonpost map http://t.co/N6fM1joJI7 ASIO map pic.twitter.com/4pQUbhJwQR— James Brown (@captainbrown) June 24, 2015
Brown notes the graphic is from a Washington Post article from June 11, 2014 with mapping information sourced from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Though a year may not sound like a long time on a larger scale, the advancement of the Islamic State through that region has drastically changed the landscape. According to the most recent map by ISW the group has now taken control of a large swath of territory since that 2014 edition.
Perhaps someone should quietly tell them their strategy might be behind the times?
The gaffe follows the political kerfuffle on Thursday morning, which saw the government accused of accidentally revealing classified information to the media. The same two leaders were sitting at a table, looking at another map -- one we are assuming was sourced properly -- that shows the Australian suburbs that have become a breeding ground for ISIS recruits.
The ABC reported it was advised by ASIO to avoid publishing the maps as they were "for official use only," causing the Opposition Labor Party to go to town on the government. ASIO was eventually forced to issue a contradictory statement saying the documents were, in fact, "carefully edited and unclassified" and publication of them was A-OK.
ASIO reveals Sydney, Melbourne terrorist-recruiting suburbs http://t.co/CpjcQGhd1k #auspol pic.twitter.com/ObwYkRll50— ABC News (@abcnews) June 24, 2015
Abbott called the reaction of the Labor Party "ludicrous" and let them know he doesn't take matters of national security lightly.
"I would have thought that [the Opposition] would have had more respect for the people running our national security," Abbott said on Thursday.