Hundreds of top-secret documents, which can embarrass multiple Australian governments of the recent past, have been found in a second-hand furniture shop in Canberra. State-funded broadcaster ABC News released some of these documents on Wednesday, calling it “one of the biggest breaches of Cabinet security in Australian history”.

The Australian government ordered an urgent investigation within an hour after the leak.

Journalists of the media organisation got the documents from two heavy filing cabinets, which the furniture seller was ready to give cheaply as no one could find the keys. “A nifty person drilled the locks and uncovered the trove of documents inside,” ABC News said on its website, saying the cabinets were “purchased for small change”.

“Nearly all the files are classified, some as ‘top secret’ or ‘AUSTEO’, which means they are to be seen by Australian eyes only,” the website said. ABC News has called the documents “The Cabinet Files”.

The leaks run into “thousands of pages”, revealing the inner workings of five separate governments, spanning nearly a decade, ABC News said. “They should have remained secret for 20 years but have become public because they were left in two locked filing cabinets that were sold at an ex-government furniture sale in Canberra,” it added.

Here’s what some of the leaked documents show:

  • The Australian Federal Police lost nearly 400 national security files in five years. It is not clear whether anyone ever investigated where the sensitive files went and where they are now.
  • Senior minister Penny Wong left nearly 200 top-secret “code word protected and sensitive documents” in her office after her Labor Party lost the 2013 election, documents showed. The files she left in the office contained sensitive intelligence information.
  • The government of former Prime Minister John Howard seriously considered removing an individual’s right to remain silent when questioned by police, leaked documents showed.
  • Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott ignored the advice of his own department and the Australian government solicitor when he ordered confidential cabinet documents be handed to a royal commission.