Revealing Our " Dirty Deeds " !

For nearly four centuries the tiny Pacific island half of Timor had been a Portuguese colony until the Indonesian other half of the island - with a nod from Australia - invaded.  For the next thirty years it was ruled by the Indonesian military and subjected to a guerrilla insurgency to try and achieve independence.

Eventually, the United Nations ordered a referendum and on May 20, 2002 it became the first newly sovereign state of the twenty-first century.  It was desperately poor and its institutions damaged by Indonesian actions to try and swing the referendum to Indonesian advantage.  Its biggest asset was the discovery of a major oil and gas field in the stretch of water between Timor and Australia.

Ownership had already been negotiated between Indonesia and Australia but East Timor's independence required a new negotiation.  Its inexperienced ministers sat down to map out an agreement in Dili and it seems that Australia took unfair advantage by having its ASIS spy agency bug the room of the East Timor delegation.   The Australians were privy to the thoughts of the East Timor government and the resulting treaty was very much to Australia's advantage.

There was consternation in International circles when a former ASIS operative and a lawyer previously contracted to ASIS revealed the nature of this spying episode in media interviews. Australia was embarrassed by this revelation and it led to the treaty on oil and gas distribution being renegotiated with the terms now heavily in East Timor's favour.

The former ASIS spy and the lawyer have been served with a writ that could see them serve a two year prison sentence under a 2004 counter terrorism law. Such prosecutions require the assent of the Federal attorney general and it seems that this has been granted.  In judicial circles there is concern that this prosecution is proceeding on counter terrorism grounds when what is involved is clearly an Australian breach of faith.

East Timor is appealing to the permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague for a further revision of this oil and gas treaty and the evidence of both men are vital to its case.   If they are in prison in Australia this will prevent them appearing as witnesses.  It is obvious that Australia is sending a very clear message to all the personnel in its security agencies that it will employ criminal proceedings if they divulge information they are sworn to keep secret.

Bugging ministerial offices was a shameful use of our spy agency but this is common in the world of international relations and personnel act accordingly.  Those newly created East Timor representatives may have been naïve but governments do have a need to preserve secrecy and these revelations can not go unpunished.

It seems that personal moral values come into conflict with the need to gather information in the world of espionage agencies and the men and women involved are often faced with contrasting emotions.   Perhaps a need to resolve which way they will act, before accepting entry into the complex world of information gathering !