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The Catholic Leader, November 10, 2019
www.catholicleader.com.auNews
‘A true scapegoat cannot be responsible for
the social collapse of which it is accused’
I spy something beginning with K
By Joe Higgins
AUSTRALIAN government offi-
cials have turned Witness K and his
or her lawyer Bernard Collaery into
scapegoats, Josephite Sister Susan
Connelly said at a public forum
about the espionage case at Brisbane
City Hall on October 29.
Senior Counsel Bret Walker, who at one
stage represented Witness K, and Professor
Clinton Fernandes, who had appeared on ABC
television as a case expert, joined Sr Connelly
on the panel discussion.
“Like I suspect all of us here tonight, the mis-
givings I feel about aspects of the two prosecu-
tions in question are an offshoot, and rather
pale in significance compared with the shame I
feel about our national contribution to the mod-
ern history of East Timor,” Mr Walker said.
He said reminiscing about “old photographs”
from the Second World War or the joint efforts
of INTERFET during the East Timor independ-
ence move of 1999 simply would not do.
Mr Walker said intelligence organisations
were not effective unless they were law-abiding
because they operated in the name and interests
of the sovereign Australian people.
“And we are nothing if not a law-abiding
people,” he said.
“Our self image of happy-go-lucky larrikins
is just so much nonsense. We are the meekest,
most law-abiding, personable and civil people
…
“We’ve had our moments, shameful in them-
selves, but nothing like other countries on earth.
“And for that kind of people, an effective
secret intelligence organisation must be a law-
abiding one.”
Secrecy had its place in public services when
it served the “national interest” in sensitive or
dangerous situations, the panellists agreed.
Police tactics used to bring down narcotic
networks, the identities of informants in terror-
ist cells and the hardware of signals intelligence
were examples where Australians wanted
secrecy.
But this was when it served the “national
interest”.
Duping a poor nation in treaty negotiations
for corporate profit, as alleged by Witness K,
was unlikely to pass the pub test about “in the
national interest”.
Prof Fernandes, who played devil’s advocate,
said Australia’s current laws meant the Austral-
ian Secret Intelligence Service could conduct
operations for the sake of Australia’s economic
wellbeing.
Legality and morality were not coterminous.
The panellists agreed Australia’s initial
covert operation, the ongoing secrecy and the
criminalisation of the witness and their lawyer
was immoral.
Sr Connelly used French philosopher Rene
Girard’s scapegoat theory to explain why Aus-
tralia was in the situation it was.
She said crisis in the social group was the
first step of scapegoating.
For this scandal, the crisis was the discovery
and lambasting of Australia’s alleged covert
tactics to cheat the negotiation process.
The second step was a crime.
“The group wants to rid itself of the mayhem,
strife, and insists that something must have
happened to cause this crisis,” Sr Connelly said.
“Someone is responsible for this crime.”
No blame was put on the covert ASIS opera-
tion or the corporate greed that motivated it,
she said.
Instead the Australian Government blamed
the whistleblowing.
The third step was the criteria for the
scapegoat – someone “weak, different, foreign,
friendless”.
“A true scapegoat cannot be responsible for
the social collapse of which it is accused,” Sr
Connelly said.
The last step was violence.
“The dominant group works together to side-
line, expel or kill the scapegoat,” she said.
Sr Connelly’s sobering analysis brought the
auditorium of lawyers and clerks to a pensive
quiet.
ORDER OF EVENTS
IN 2004, Australian Secret Intelligence Service
officers allegedly infiltrated East Timor’s cabi-
net room, planted covert recording devices, and
extracted privileged conversations from the East
Timor delegation about ongoing Timor Sea treaty
negotiations with Australia.
The Australian delegation allegedly used this
information to its advantage in the negotiations,
securing a great deal for Australia, which ensured
plenty of resources for Australian energy corpora-
tions to profit off.
The one who alleged this was Witness K.
Witness K’s lawyer was Bernard Collaery.
In 2012, East Timor Prime Minister Xanana
Gusmao learned about the alleged operation and
sent a letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying
the treaty was struck in “bad faith” and should be
renegotiated.
Ms Gillard said no.
East Timor took Australia to the international
courts.
In 2013, Mr Collaery left Australia for The Hague
to represent East Timor.
Witness K was preparing to leave to testify.
Australian Federal Police officers and Australian
Security Intelligence Organisation officers raided
Mr Collaery and Witness K’s homes and offices,
took case documents and seized Witness K’s
passport.
The international courts told Australia to stop
spying on East Timor and to give back the docu-
ments they had seized.
East Timor dropped the case in 2014 when Aus-
tralia agreed to renegotiate the treaty.
In 2018, months after a new treaty was signed
– much more favourable to East Timor – both
Witness K and Mr Collaery were charged with
crimes.
They face trials with partially secret evidence.
Prof Fernandes, in his talk, said there were
“matters of physics” to take into account.
He said recording devices only had a set bat-
tery life.
This meant a reconnaissance team was need-
ed to work out logistics like when the crucial
talks would take place and where was optimal
to plant covert listening devices, he said.
It was not a small operation was his point.
During this period, the Australian Embassy
in Jakarta was bombed, killing nine people and
wounding more than 150 others.
Islamic terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah,
alleged to have links to al-Qaeda, claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Suicide bombers were killing people but
Australia had focused resources on securing
land for energy profits.
ASIS operatives would have misgivings
about that, Prof Fernandes said.
The moral imperative for the whistleblower
was clear.
The discussions shifted towards the alleged
cover-up and trials of Witness K and Mr Col-
laery, which had secret evidence.
Australia’s pursuit of the two was likely
either for two reasons, the panel said.
Either, it was revenge for embarrassing
powerful interests or it was a threat to other
potential whistleblowers about other abuses of
intelligence services for commercial reasons.
The best way to help both Witness K and
Mr Collaery was to talk to your local member
about them and share concern for the abuse of
secrecy, Sr Connelly said.
Earlier this year, Witness K pleaded guilty
in the ACT Magistrates Court to one charge of
communicating secret information.
It is expected Mr Collaery will fight his
charges.
Josephite Sister Susan Connelly:
“The group wants to rid itself of the mayhem, strife, and insists
that something must have happened to cause this crisis.”
Photo: Joe Higgins