In 2004, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) bugged the East Timor Cabinet Office at Dili to obtain information that would allow Australia to gain an unfair advantage & the upper hand in negotiations with East Timor over the rich oil & gas fields in the Timor Gap. This was allegedly at the behest of then Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

In 2012, the former senior ASIS intelligence officer who led the bugging operation (Witness K) revealed that the Australian Government had illegally accessed the top-secret cabinet discussions of the East Timorese Government & had exploited this information during negotiations of the Timor Sea Treaty, to the disadvantage of the people of East Timor.

In June 2018 the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions filed criminal charges against Witness K & his lawyer, Bernard Collaery for essentially exposing the truth of Australia’s bad behaviour towards an ally & a newly independent country struggling to get its people out of poverty.

As no national security interest was exposed by either Witness K or his lawyer, we ask that the Attorney-General of Australia, Christian Porter drop these unnecessary charges, which only lead Australia down the path towards a police state.

[Picture credit: ABC News; Outrage credit: Four Corners]