A small number of Labor MPs have begun finding their voice about the outrage of the prosecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery despite efforts by Labor’s leadership to provide cover for the Liberals’ harassment of the pair. Victorian MP Julian Hill and others raised the scandal in yesterday’s caucus meeting and are set to receive a briefing from shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on it.
Given Labor’s, and Dreyfus’, role in the scandal, MPs should be asking some hard questions of Dreyfus.
Timor-Leste’s then-prime minister Xanana Gusmão wrote to Julia Gillard on December 7, 2012, about the bugging of Timor-Leste’s cabinet and its impact on the Timor Sea Treaty. His goal was to settle the matter confidentially between governments, without it becoming public. Instead, the Gillard government wildly overreacted. It denied that the bugging had taken place despite the evidence Gusmão furnished, and (inexplicably) sent Margaret Twomey, who had been ambassador to Dili when the bugging took place, to see Gusmão.
The attorney-general at that point was Nicola Roxon. Whether she had any role in what was primarily a foreign affairs matter isn’t clear. She resigned in February 2013 and was replaced by Dreyfus. ASIO was later authorised to place Timor-Leste’s Australian lawyer, Bernard Collaery — a veteran national security lawyer highly regarded in the intelligence community — under surveillance, breaching his clients’ legal privilege. As attorney-general, Dreyfus would have authorised the bugging of Collaery.
Shocked at the unwillingness of Gillard and her foreign minister Bob Carr to resolve the issue, Gusmão took the matter to international arbitration in April 2013. In an extraordinary move, Carr and Dreyfus responded by publicly circulating claims about the bugging of Timor-Leste’s cabinet themselves in a media release of May 2013 rejecting the claims as “not new”. Laughably, Carr and Dreyfus claimed that Australia had negotiated with Timor-Leste in “good faith”.
Two weeks later, Collaery discussed the allegations with The Australian, which thus broke the story of how Australia bugged a fledgling micro-state for the advantage of its own resource companies. Signally, The Australian is not mentioned in the Director of Public Prosecutions’ charges of Collaery — only the ABC, which came to the story later.
Labor’s role in this sordid saga leaves some key questions unresolved — questions Hill and other MPs should put to Dreyfus at their briefing.
- What does Dreyfus know about the Gillard government’s response to Gusmão’s December 2012 information and what role as AG from February 2013 did he play in it?
- What efforts did the Gillard government make to ascertain the truth about the bugging, which occurred under the Howard government? Did it make any efforts at all?
- Why did Dreyfus approve the surveillance of Bernard Collaery?
- Why did Dreyfus claim Australia “conducted the CMATS treaty negotiations in good faith” when this was patently false?
But there are a couple of broader questions as well. Why has Labor, rather than vigorously exposing the illegal actions of ASIS under the orders of the Howard government and pursuing those responsible — something that its role as an opposition, Australia’s national interest, and its own political interests, should demand — instead collaborated with the Liberal Party to cover up a crime? Why has it stayed silent as the men who did their job for them, of exposing crimes carried out under the Howard government, are being railroaded in a trial the government wants to keep secret?
Labor used to be the party that was sceptical of Australia’s intelligence agencies, given the long history of those agencies being used against the left in Australia. Labor is notionally a party committed to the rule of law, to justice, to giving the powerless a voice against the powerful. But these commitments ring hollow given its role in trying to hide our shameful treatment of Timor-Leste and persecuting those who tried to expose it.
Labor MPs need to be asking why. And they need to be speaking out a lot louder about ending this cover-up and this appalling prosecution.
Good luck getting modern labor to fess up. They mostly lurk in the same full used nappy bucket as the liberals on most issues not concerning themselves.
I have serious questions of my own for you Bernard.
Why are you targeting the opposition when only the government is legally able to answer your questions.
Why do you expect the opposition to start a national security brawl with a failing government tustbis desperate for wedge issues with an an election looming.
Why are you giving the Greens Party a leg up with this one sided campaign
Exactly!
Dear John , like you I do hope that the Labor Party is our next government!
However in saying that, on the basis of principles and policies, they have a long way to go . Such a pity that you take a general “spray” at Bernard’s opinion and not the substance.
Very comforting to see the views of Julian Hill, Doug Cameron and others are accommodated within in the Party, not to mention the views of a healthy representation of intelligent women.
The appalling treatment by successive governments , LNP & Labor, towards our newest and most vulnerable neighbour is a matter of record. Thank you Bernard for highlighting Labor’s deficiencies.
Generally speaking, how well I remember that brave convicted Customs whistleblower, Allan Kessing going to Anthony Albanese and Jason Clare for support prior to the “Kevin 07” general election.
They embraced him and promised to pardon him once they become government. When elected they hung him out to dry!!!!
Where is the Labor Party with regards to the discredited “neoliberal” policies begun in the Hawke/Keating era?
Lets see how they stand up to the “blowtorch to the belly” that will inevitably be applied by the powerful beneficiaries of this “neoliberalism” if they try to apply reverse measures?
By all indications Labor will do whatever it takes to get its “snout in the trough”.
” Where is the Labor Party with regards to the discredited “neoliberal” policies begun in the Hawke/Keating era?”
Where indeed? It would do Labor no end of good to admit culpability on a few things. Not so long ago, Matthias Cormann was taunting Penny Wong with her personal and her party’s full recent support of the corporate tax cuts and he was right to do so. Wong pretended she was deaf, and I was shouting at her to just admit it and move on- because none of Labor’s new talk about inequality will ring true with anyone on the socialist left until they do. They’ll convince enough of the liberal left to get in, then it will be Neoliberalist business-as-usual, I’m afraid.
Great work Bernard – spot on. Labor should change tac on this – what are they hiding???
Because it needs to be highlighted again and again that voting in the other side of the same damn coin is not going to change the status quo one iota.
And it needs to change, more than ever before.
hear hear. Must try harder. Accomplished some great things while in Hung Parliament mode. Gillard’s absolute trashing of wikileaks and refusal to help Assange was similarly shocking.
Who is advising them? Just what information makes such weird reactions to Decency, Transparency and Justice seem ok ?
It is this thinking that has given us the current mess on climate change policy
Labor is inOPPOSITION in case you haven’t noticed and if helping the Greens Party pick off soft Labor voters rocks your boat keep going with the pox on both houses attitude
Oppostion should not be a place to avoid scrutiny. They’re paid excessively well to provide an alternative narrative, or shine light into the darkness, and they equally enjoy parliamentary privilege to perform this role. I’m still waiting for them to get off their overly comfortable arses.
It is this thinking that has given us the current mess on asylum seeker and many other policies. Labor in government was responsible for part of this mess, by commission as well as omission. As a prospective (and likely) government in waiting, their policy will soon be in effect, and so should be examined. A pox on both houses when they deserve it.
Like it or not all you Greens Party supporters Opposition is no place to pull on a fight on national security.
It IS a national security issue as the principal allegation is that one of our security agencies has bugged a sovereign government
Wake up and start pressuring the current government
The problem is all of the fighting is being done within the liberal and national scumbags.
Labor can’t be arsed doing anything for us mugs, even when a relatively simple matter of either corrupt spies or liberal and national politicians need to be called to account. Politician class 101 fail.
E. Timors security was at stake, not Australia’s, unless you’re privy to hearings in the secret court case.
I agree with everything you’ve brought up here applet. Neither Labor or Liberals have covered themselves in glory with this. If we want good relations with our neighbours in the future we have to have transparency now. I hope BK and other journos keep investigating and reporting the truth and let the chips fall where they may.
Just wondering why your focus, as usual, is on what Labor are not doing. What about the Liberal Government . I actually thought they were in government. You have form on this . Can almost hear Scot Morrison ‘s voice in the background of much of what you write”Its all Labor’s fault”
A bit more impartiality Bernard please!
Thank you for this excellent summary of many of the facts. It is quite wrong to dress this appalling move against two people of proven integrity as “national security”. People shouldn’t let their eyes glaze over when faced with this somewhat intricate tale. The facts are that as joint venture partners, both Australia and Timor-Leste had responsibilities of basic trust towards each other. Australia blew it by spying. In other words, we conspired to defraud our partner, using state security apparatus (and the tax-payer funded AusAid) to do so.
Here’s a petition to the Attorney-General to drop the charges:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/Australian_AttorneyGeneral_Drop_the_charges_against_truthtellers_re_Australian_spying_on_Timor/details/
The “problem” is, Susan, that someone got caught. A 19th century wit declared that diplomacy makes lairs of otherwise honest men. Such practices have been around since the days of (clergyman) Johnathan Swift who did his fair share for England.
Referring to the lyrics of the song by Dylan : “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” Nicola decided to “bail”.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure there are now barely any politicians who aren’t apologists for the intelligence agencies. Giving them powers they don’t need; giving them powers they didn’t ask for; this continual whittling away at people’s rights. The intelligence folks must have some awesome kompromat.