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The dossier triggered immediate chaos across social media and news outlets. Within an hour, hashtags such as #LaborISISCoverUp and #AlboLawsuit were trending nationally, while #PaulineDropsBombshell reached the global top five. Newsrooms across Australia scrambled to verify the documents, with The Australian, Sky News Australia, and even the ABC Fact Check confirming the authenticity of at least 80% of the dossier, with redactions consistent with national security protocols.
Public reaction was immediate and intense. A second snap poll conducted by Newspoll between 4 pm and 8 pm indicated a sharp drop in Albanese’s approval rating to a new low of 29%, with 67% of respondents believing the repatriation program had been mishandled. In key battlegrounds—outer-suburban and regional electorates—support for One Nation surged by nine points overnight.
Labor MPs were thrown into disarray behind closed doors. Several backbenchers privately expressed anger at being kept in the dark about the scale of the returns. One senior MP, speaking anonymously to The Sydney Morning Herald, said: “We were told it was just a handful of kids with their mothers under strict monitoring. Now we find out it’s nearly twenty, and passports were fast-tracked. People are going to lose seats over this.”
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