Student pleads guilty to Frances Abbott 'secret' scholarship leak

Sydney student Freya Newman has pled guilty to illegally using a colleagues' login credentials to access and leak documents about a scholarship awarded to the daughter of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Newman was charged with unauthorised access to restricted data after she accessed a email system owned by the Whitehouse Institute of Design 20 May.

She was captured on CCTV logging into the system while she worked at the library at the same time the emails were accessed.

Newman was thought to have leaked the documents to New Matilda, a magazine that later published information appearing to reveal Francis Abbott had been awarded the scholarship under exceptional circumstances.

The contention was that the Prime Minister did not declare the scholarship as required under law.

The paper alleged Ms Abbott, then 22, paid AUD$7546 of the $68,182 degree fee and was offered a Managing Director's scholarship after a single meeting in February 2011 with Institute boss Leanne Whitehouse, forgoing what would usually be a comprehensive application process.

That Ms Abbott was awarded the scholarship before she commenced the course appeared to grate with a statement on the Whitehouse website that the organisation did "not currently offer scholarships to gain a place into the Bachelor of Design" and that scholarships may be offered to students "who have formally commenced their studies".

The University of Technoloy was understood to have funded Newman's court costs while the student council at rival Sydney University may also offer funding under a "motion of solidarity".

A 'Free Freya Newman' Facebook page has attracted more than 4000 followers. ®