Deception, exploitation and cover-up are messages Australia is sending to our foreign neighbours, writes Dr Kyle Mervin.
IT IS AN UNFORTUNATE truth that it is sometimes necessary for a government to conduct its business in secret. That necessity is born of the complex nature of international relations, but I’m not sure that necessity extends to all international dealings.
Bad things happen behind closed doors and if unconscionable conduct by vested interests hides behind the veil of secrecy mandated by national security, it should and most likely will in the fullness of time be exposed and should be prosecuted.
In recent history, the modus operandi of the major democracies of the world in dealing with whistleblowers, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia included, has been to shoot the messenger.
A case in point and most notably on the international stage has been the treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who for the last decade or so has been holed up initially under political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK and, more recently, incarcerated in the UK awaiting extradition to the U.S. to face charges of espionage.
Closer to home, Witness K and his barrister Bernard Collaery have been the subject of legal proceedings by the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison Coalition Government, over the leaking of information to the East Timorese Government of secret recordings made by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) and used to prejudice trade...
'He stalked me, but I was the one arrested' Jodie Morrow had just finished an early shift at her cafe job in December 2020 when she noticed missed calls from the police on her phone. She knew this...