Julie Bishop says intelligence gathering with US is vital, accuses Edward Snowden of treachery

Updated

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop used a major speech in Washington to defend Australia's joint intelligence operations with the United States and criticise American whistleblower Edward Snowden for his "treachery".

Sandwiched between meetings with US vice-president Joe Biden and top security officials, Ms Bishop delivered the keynote address to the Alliance 21 conference, organised by the US Studies Centre.

Before an audience of American and Australian business and trade leaders and former senior ministers, she made it clear what she thought of Snowden, the former US intelligence analyst.

He "continues to shamefully betray his nation while skulking in Russia", Ms Bishop said.

"This represents unprecedented treachery. He is no hero.

"I am surprised that any responsible entity or organisation or people could label him as some kind of hero.

"This is unprecedented treachery."

While in Washington, Ms Bishop met with president Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice.

Ms Bishop is convinced shared intelligence gathering will remain a pillar of the relationship between the two allies.

"I am confident that intelligence cooperation will remain one of the core elements of our alliance in the 21st century," she said.

"But we must be prepared to make the public case for the importance of this work because the safety of our citizens depends on it."

Documents leaked by Snowden last November caused a major rift between Australia and Indonesia, with revelations the country's president and his close advisers had been targeted by Australian spies.

At an earlier press conference, Ms Bishop revealed she is working as closely as possible with her Indonesian counterpart to manage the impact.

"Indeed Minister [Marty] Natalegawa and I are in constant contact," she said.

He [Snowden] is no hero. "This is unprecedented treachery. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop

"We've put in place a process and we're halfway through that process - that is developing a joint understanding of these issues."

But she again stressed there will be no backing away from intelligence gathering activities undertaken by both the US and Australia.

"I take this opportunity to remind people that our intelligence activities are about our national security, our national interest and protecting the safety and security of our citizens," she said.

"It's about saving lives and Australia will continue putting the interests, the safety of our citizens first.

Ms Bishop says she also shares Prime Minister Tony Abbott's confidence that there is adequate and robust oversight of Australia's intelligence services.

Topics: security-intelligence, federal-government, foreign-affairs, united-states, australia

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