The Murphy raids on the offices of the
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated vio ...
(ASIO) occurred on 16 March 1973. The purpose of the raids, instigated by Attorney-General
Lionel Murphy
Lionel Keith Murphy QC (30 August 1922 – 21 October 1986) was an Australian politician, barrister, and judge. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1975, serving as Attorney-General in the Whitlam Government, and then sat on the ...
, was to obtain terrorism-related information that the ASIO was accused of withholding. Murphy was operating without any permission from the Prime Minister at the time,
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
or the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
. No warrants were obtained from the judiciary.
Although called "raids", the only raid carried out was on the Canberra office as this was by surprise whereas the investigation of the Melbourne office (ASIO's headquarters) was done hours after the Director-General had been informed of Murphy's intentions.
Background
Global terrorism and Australia
The Whitlam Government came to office shortly after the terrorist attacks at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
and the Sydney bombings involving Croatian separatist groups in Australia, including the
Ustaša. One of the first acts of the new government was to help US-led efforts in the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
to counter the rise of 'political violence' to person and property around the globe. These efforts failed because the
Non-aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
The movement originated in the aftermath o ...
states believed that political violence or terrorism was not inherently illegitimate, given resistance and revolutionary activities in the former colonies.
[ https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:21763/]
A planned visit by
Džemal Bijedić, the Yugoslavian Prime Minister, in March 1973 generated considerable angst within the government about the security situation and the safety of the visiting dignitary. There was also much concern in Yugoslavia, which was a member of the Non-Aligned Movement. The President of Yugoslavia
Josip Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav Communism, communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until ...
said before the visit: "We will send more agents to Australia. We will crush these people
roatian separatists We will destroy them root and branch". This indicated the possible presence of a Yugoslavian counter-terrorism operation in Australia.
In 2016 it was shown that such an operation existed from at least the late 1970s.
Labor and the Whitlam government were highly suspicious of ASIO and perceived the organisation to be a partisan tool of the Liberal governments in the 1950s and 1960s. At the 1971 Federal Labor Party conference, only a single vote (22 in favour, 23 against) had defeated a proposed motion "that ASIO be abolished."
The raids
Murphy, with the help of his advisor Kerry Milte—a former Commonwealth Police official and barrister—gained entry to the Canberra office of ASIO, which was then a regional office, at midnight on 16 March. They located a document which implied that ASIO and "the departments of Foreign Affairs, Attorney-General's and Immigration" had conspired to withhold information from him about Croatian separatists in Australia. Murphy wanted to fly immediately to the ASIO headquarters in Melbourne but was delayed at
Canberra Airport
Canberra Airport is an international airport situated in the District of Majura, Australian Capital Territory serving Australia's capital city, Canberra, as well as the nearby city of Queanbeyan and regional areas of the Australian Capital Te ...
for several hours.
The Director-General of Security (head of ASIO)
Peter Barbour
Peter Robert Woolnough Barbour (5 October 1925 – 7 November 1996) was an Australian intelligence officer and diplomat. He was also the Director-General of Security leading the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) from 1970 to 1 ...
was informed of Murphy's intentions at 5:20am and arrived at the Melbourne headquarters of ASIO at 6:45am. 27 Commonwealth Police officers in plain clothes arrived "with orders to seal all file containers" at 7:40am in order to "preserve and ascertain certain information". Murphy arrived at 9:45am and instructed three officers with "special acquaintance with matters of Croatian terrorism" to assist him while the other officers waited outside. It was initially reported that ASIO's switchboard had been disabled or interfered with, however the government later denied these reports. Various files were inspected by Murphy and his staff – without the police – until 12:40pm, when the inspecting party left. They replaced original documents but took "Photostat" copies with them.
However, no evidence of conspiracy was found.
Later on the 16th, Murphy explained that the reason for the raids had been the safety of the visiting Yugoslavian Prime Minister.
According to Murphy the press had been alerted to the investigation of ASIO's headquarters by
George Negus
George Edward Negus AM (born 13 March 1942) is an Australian journalist, author, television and radio presenter specialising in international affairs. He was a pioneer of Australian TV journalism, first appearing on the ABC’s groundbreaking T ...
, who was then Murphy's press secretary.
Footage was obtained of Murphy arriving at the building surrounded by plain clothed police officers.
Responses
Immediate reaction
Politically, the raids on ASIO are said to have ended the new government's 'honey-moon' period by throwing its competency into question. The raid also improved ASIO's image as it was shown that ASIO was not engaged in conspiracy. It also damaged the bilateral relationship between the United States and Australia because of the intelligence exchange between the two states.
The Yugoslavian Prime Minister arrived in Australia five days after the raids. At around the same time the Prime Minister's office was fitted with bulletproofed glass and the pregnant wife of Attorney-General
Lionel Murphy
Lionel Keith Murphy QC (30 August 1922 – 21 October 1986) was an Australian politician, barrister, and judge. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1975, serving as Attorney-General in the Whitlam Government, and then sat on the ...
, Ingrid, went into hiding after a series of death threats.
At a reception for the visiting Prime Minister held at
The Lodge, Whitlam said:
[
Murphy had indicated on 1 March that he was going to make a statement on the issue of terrorism in Australia. However, the raids delayed this until 27 March. In the ]Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...
he explained that the Whitlam Government saw political violence against persons and property as an illegitimate form of political expression the state has a right to pursue. The speech did not substantiate the raids nor did it discuss ASIO in depth. It was "a statement on terrorism and a political attack on the previous government" the same "conclusion reached by the United States, which had followed parliamentary debates and press coverage closely".
In Parliament, Whitlam and Murphy said that ASIO has made no official complaint about the raids. Under legal oath, before a Senate Committee erected by the hostile Senate to uncover more information about the raids, the Director-General said no complaint has been made. In August this was contradicted by a leaked letter revealing that the Director-General had made a complaint. This lie eroded the press' view of ASIO. In an interview with David Frost
Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...
Whitlam said "The greatest mistake the Government has made has been to take the police into ASIO headquarters".[
]James Jesus Angleton
James Jesus Angleton (December 9, 1917 – May 11, 1987) was chief of CIA Counterintelligence, counterintelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1954 to 1974. His official position within the organization was Associate Deputy Di ...
, the CIA's head of counter-intelligence at the time, was concerned by the raids. According to journalist Brian Toohey, Angleton sought to instigate the removal of Whitlam from office in 1974 by having CIA station chief in Canberra, John Walker, ask Peter Barbour
Peter Robert Woolnough Barbour (5 October 1925 – 7 November 1996) was an Australian intelligence officer and diplomat. He was also the Director-General of Security leading the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) from 1970 to 1 ...
, then head of ASIO, to make a false declaration that Whitlam had lied about the raid in Parliament. Barbour refused to make the statement.
Longterm consequences
The Murphy raids meant that the Whitlam Government could not instigate the changes it wanted in ASIO in the short term. By September 1973 Whitlam indicated that an inquiry was likely to be commissioned. Labor took the policy of an inquiry to the election in 1974 and, after the controversy surrounding ASIO's leaked views on Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns
James Ford Cairns (4 October 191412 October 2003) was an Australian politician who was prominent in the Labor movement through the 1960s and 1970s, and was briefly Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government. He is best re ...
, the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
was launched. This would result in a lasting bipartisan consensus on ASIO.
See also
* Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
References
{{coord, 37, 50, 29.1, S, 144, 58, 42.7, E, type:event_region:AU, display=title
1973 in Australia