Four Corners: Mar 17

On Four Corners next Monday Marian Wilkinson investigates the intelligence operation that’s caused friction in Australia’s relationship with East Timor.

Late last year the office of Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery was raided by agents from ASIO and the Federal Police.

They were looking for documents that linked his client, a former top Australian spy, to disclosures that Australia had bugged East Timor’s Prime Minister and his advisors during crucial treaty talks a decade ago. Those talks resulted in a treaty that carved up billions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Now both the lawyer and former spy are threatened with criminal charges for breaching national security laws.

This week Four Corners reporter Marian Wilkinson investigates the events leading up to the ASIO raids on Bernard Collaery and the former spy and reveals the growing friction between Dili and Canberra over the row.

Attorney-General George Brandis defends the head of ASIO, David Irvine, for his advice on the warrants and tells Four Corners: “the intelligence case that ASIO put before me was a very strong case.”

But East Timor’s lawyer, Bernard Collaery, says he is concerned the Government is trying to stop the former spy, codenamed ‘Witness K’, giving evidence about the espionage operation in legal proceedings launched by East Timor.

East Timor’s advisors are now arguing Australia spied for commercial reasons. Former treaty negotiator Peter Galbraith tells Four Corners: “the Australian Government was shockingly close to the oil companies.”

The stakes are high. East Timor wants to invalidate the treaty it signed with Australia in 2006 and has taken its case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

The tiny nation is calling on Australia to finally negotiate permanent and fair maritime boundaries that will give it more control over the oil and gas wealth in the Timor Sea.

‘Drawing the Line’ is a revealing insight into national security in the post-Cold War environment. Do governments too freely use espionage for economic advantage? And is it in the national interest?

Monday 17 March, 8.30pm ABC1.