| | House blocks shrink to 80 square metres in perth, and an 11 per cent decline in the population, they are already overburdened and will be facing a growing shortfall soon.
Dr Lee said more than $400 million was needed to maintain infrastructure and other essential services, with the bulk of the funding being provided by the federal government.
Defence dept accused of inquiry interference after leaking information to BBC
A D-Class Defence Department employee allegedly leaked a confidential intelligence report from the National Intelligence Service and ABC news after the department's own inspector general ruled it could jeopardise the agency's operations, defence officials and sources said on Wednesday.
Sources said the alleged leak came as a direct result of an internal review of intelligence gathered by the National Intelligence Service and the ABC on Tuesday and Wednesday.
As reported in The Australian newspaper, this was the first time the information was released publicly, but revealed the ABC had been asked to provide the NIS's assessment in relation to the "threat of al-Qaeda" ahead of the March 20 international summit meeting between Prime Minister Tony Abbott and US President Barack Obama.
NIS's internal review has already raised concerns that a series of breaches had taken place in recent months, with some officers "worried" the leak had undermined their credibility as well as their "assurance" that it was not classified.
After the intelligence leak was made public, Defence Department chiefs were furious. In a letter sent to Mr Abbott last Thursday, Department of Defence minister Mark Butler stated the department's conduct "must never be tolerated and we consider this matter to be deeply concerning".
"These alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Act are of significant concern to us all, and to the Australian public, and we must understand and address why our actions and actions which follow have been so wrong and have caused such alarm," the letter said.
However, sources familiar with the internal review say it was not until this week that the defence department learned of the ABC's disclosure of the NIS report as a result of its own independent investigation and the ABC's reporting.
It is understood the ABC made the disclosure due to "a conflict of interest". Sources told Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph that, in addition, intelligence documents that were provided by a whistleblower to the ABC were later shared with the Defence Department.
The ABC said it had "no knowledge whatsoever" of the NIS leak, which "appears to have been carried out by an individual who had been serving as a National Intelligence Officer". The ABC did not respond to calls for comment.
On March 22, Defence officials called the NIS to report an alleged threat of terrorist attacks over Australia following the US-led coalition war in Iraq. As a result of this, the NIS began a security review into the NIS, but the decision was taken to release the report to ABC News because it contained confidential intelligence, it is understood.
In the letter to Mr Butler last Thursday, the Minister wrote that while he understood the ABC's conduct in publishing the NIS report was "not something that he expected to be done out of th
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