An activist paints the Australian Embassy wall during a protest in 2013 in Dili. (AAP/EPA: Antonio Dasiparu) |
With the denunciation of the
dishonest methods applied by Australia to the young nation of Timor-Leste,
relative to the oil in the Timor Sea, its dishonest and parasitic methods to
the neighboring nations around it are globally demonstrated. Men of courage,
Australians, denounced Australia's espionage practices to the detriment of
Timor-Leste. Literally, Australia has started a robbery operation in the Timor
Sea. From these and other details lawyer Collaery has produced a book to be
published, which has already received veiled intimidation of the Australian
"piracy" machine they call justice. Exactly about this and even more
we can read in the article by Steve Cannane on ABC, below. (Timor Agora)
'Witness K' lawyer Bernard
Collaery got jail warning from Government over book months before being charged
in Timor-Leste spy case
By Steve
Cannane, ABC Investigations
Updated 28 Aug 2018, 3:42am
The lawyer who helped expose an
Australian spying operation on its ally Timor-Leste was given a chilling
warning by the Federal Government, just months before charges were filed
against him for breaches of the Intelligence Services Act.
In a legal letter obtained by the
ABC, Bernard Collaery was warned that if he disclosed secret information about
the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in his book, due to be
published next year, he could face "a maximum penalty of 10 years'
imprisonment".
The letter from the Australian
Government Solicitor (AGS) warns he does not have approval to make
"broader disclosures about ASIS staff members and ASIS activities, much
less to the world at large".
It points out Mr Collaery agreed
to particular rules — including a "secrecy undertaking" — so that he
could legally represent an Australian spy.
Mr Collaery and his client, the
former intelligence agent known as Witness K, are due to face court next month
over allegations not contained in the letter.
The pair is accused of conspiring to communicate secret information to the
Government of Timor-Lestesome time between May 2008 and May 2013.
Mr Collaery is also accused of
sharing information with ABC journalists about the 2004 operation which saw
Australia bug Timor-Leste's cabinet room during maritime boundary negotiations
over oil and gas reserves worth an estimated $40 billion.
Those conversations allegedly
occurred after the December 2013 raid on Mr Collaery's office, where a legal
brief was seized.
The timing of the prosecution,
more than four years after ASIO agents first raided the homes of Mr Collaery
and Witness K, has legal and political experts asking the question: Why now?
Former Victorian premier and
adviser to Timor-Leste, Steve Bracks, told the ABC the prosecution is
"political".
One of Australia's most senior
lawyers, Nicholas Cowdery QC, has questioned whether the prosecution is in the
public interest and said the long delay is highly unusual.
Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery has authored a book about Australia's relations with Timor-Leste. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty) |
The book
Mr Collaery's book is expected to
be explosive: shining a spotlight on Australia's relations with Timor-Leste
since World War II and exposing decisions made by a series of senior
politicians and diplomats.
Monash University Publishing
would not be explicit about the book's contents, however director Dr Nathan
Hollier said it would raise important questions about "the integrity of
systems of government in Australia".
The book has alarmed those at the
highest levels of Australia's foreign intelligence service.
According to the AGS letter, the
warning was sent following a request from Paul Symon, the head of ASIS.
ASIS would not comment due to
legal proceedings.
A copy was also sent to the
lawyers of Witness K, who was a senior ASIS officer at the time of the Dili
bugging.
Mr Collaery was angered that his
proposed book triggered a warning from the Government that he could face a
lengthy jail term.
The Canberra-based lawyer fired
back a response, describing the original letter as a threat:
"You might conclude that it was unwise to accept an instruction to forward a letter to me in which you acknowledge my awareness of the law but warn me, in a manner intended to convey a threat, of the penalties for a breach of the law."
Two weeks after Mr Collaery
responded to the AGS letter, he and Witness K were given court summons over the
revelations relating to the 2004 spying operation.
The prosecution had to be
approved by Attorney-General Christian Porter following advice from the
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP).
Mr Porter insists Mr Collaery's
book and other "external factors" have nothing to do with the
decision to approve the prosecution.
In a statement to the ABC he
said: "The decision in this matter was made within months of me taking on
the portfolio and was based entirely on the request from the independent
CDPP."
Mr Collaery was unavailable for
comment.
The deal
Former Victorian premier Steve
Bracks believes the prosecution has been triggered by other events.
He says Witness K and Mr Collaery
are being prosecuted because Australia has only recently renegotiated a deal
with Timor-Leste over maritime borders.
"Why wouldn't they do this
previously? Why wouldn't they do that while the UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea compulsory conciliation was going on? Why did they wait until it was
resolved to do this?"
Mr Bracks is close to Timor's
first president, Xanana Gusmao, and has acted as a special adviser to the
fledgling country.
"I've got no doubt it's
political," he said.
At the time of the 2004 spying
operation, Australia was in negotiations with its impoverished neighbour over
maritime boundaries covering lucrative oil and gas deposits. The Treaty on
Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS treaty) was finally
signed in 2006.
After the spying operation was
made public, Timor-Leste claimed its maritime treaty with Australia was invalid
and took legal action in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
"They wanted to know our
weakness and they took advantage of our weakness," Mr Gusmao told the ABC in 2015.
Timor-Leste dropped the case
after Australia agreed to enter genuine negotiations over maritime boundaries.
A new agreement, giving Timor a
larger share of territory and oil and gas revenue, was finally signed in March
this year and approved by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties on May 7.
Three weeks later Witness K and
Mr Collaery were summoned.
The Attorney-General said the
treaty and the negotiations around it had no influence on his decision.
"The decision was based on
my consideration of the CDPP's independent assessment of the evidence," Mr
Porter said.
"External factors played no
part in my consideration of the matter."
Timeline of events
2004
Australia bugs Timor-Leste's cabinet room during negotiations over a maritime
border covering lucrative oil and gas deposits.
January 2006
The two nations agree revenue from the oil and gas project will be split evenly
in the CMATS treaty and permanent maritime border negotiations put on hold for
50 years.
2012
Timor-Leste government finds out about the spying operation and approaches the
Australian government, led by then-prime minister Julia Gillard.
April 2013
Timor-Leste launch action in The Hague to overturn the CMATS treaty.
December 2013
Bernard Collaery and Witness K's homes are raided with a warrant issued by
attorney-general George Brandis.
January 2017
The Timorese government agrees to drop the case in The Hague when Australia
agrees to negotiate a permanent maritime boundary in the Timor Sea.
December 2017
Christian Porter takes over as Attorney-General from Senator Brandis.
March 2018
Australia and Timor-Leste sign a new agreement on maritime borders.
Letter sent to Mr Collaery, warning him about the contents of his upcoming book.
May 2018
Mr Collaery and Witness K charged for breaches of the Intelligence Services Act.
June 2018
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie uses parliamentary privilege to expose the charges.
The CDPP and Attorney-General
changeover
Questions about the delay in
prosecuting Witness K and Mr Collaery are further complicated by changes in
personnel at the top.
Since the pair first had their
homes raided in 2013, a
new CDPP and new Attorney-General have been appointed.
When the brief of evidence was delivered in 2015 to the
CDPP, George Brandis was the attorney-general and Robert Bromwich was the
Commonwealth DPP.
When Witness K and Mr Collaery
were finally summoned to court this year, Sarah McNaughton had been the CDPP
for two years, and Christian Porter was Attorney-General.
The ABC understands both CDPPs
gave formal advice to then-attorney-general Brandis about whether to prosecute
Witness K and Mr Collaery.
It's not clear whether the CDPP's
legal opinions differed nor why Mr Porter approved a prosecution and Senator
Brandis did not.
In a statement to the ABC, Mr
Porter said: "I will not discuss the substance or timing of evidence
provided to the CDPP in the matter."
Mr Brandis was unavailable for
comment.
'The person who exposes it gets
prosecuted': Cowdery
Former NSW director of public
prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery is calling for more transparency around the
decision to prosecute Witness K and Mr Collaery.
While there was no legal
obligation on the government to explain why it had taken so long to prosecute
the pair, he said they should do so to protect public confidence in the law and
the office of the CDPP.
"The population needs to
have confidence that what is being done on its behalf is being done properly
and it can't have that confidence and it can't make that judgement unless it
gets the information," he said.
Mr Cowdery has previously given
advice the bugging operation conducted by Australia was illegal.
Regardless of the merits of the
case, he believes the decision to prosecute is not in the public interest, a
key criteria in prosecutions such as this one.
"We see too often
circumstances where some official wrongdoing occurs. Somebody exposes that, may
have some involvement in it as well, and it's the person who exposes it gets
prosecuted while the officials [who planned and authorised the bugging] get
away scot free."