article in the australia today, page-5

Just in case you haven't heard of this article in the SMH today ... if you are on your way to the pub, go directly to the end of the article as this is the key piece ...

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THE Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, has accepted the blame for the accidental release of a document showing the progress of treaty negotiations with other countries.

The embarrassing bungle has forced the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to contact each of the 80 or so countries on the list to advise them of the breach.

"The minister has and does accept responsibility for this error," a spokeswoman said. "The [department] is in the process of advising each of the relevant countries that the document was released in error."

The Government tables in Parliament lists of multilateral treaty negotiations every six months, but on Wednesday accidentally also tabled a list of bilateral talks.

The document, which lists bilateral treaties under negotiation or review, revealed the status of defence treaties with the United States and Indonesia and plans to supply uranium to China, but did not appear to include any sensitive or damaging information.