Australian tribunal orders part of secret Timor-Leste bugging case to be heard in public

Australia's Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) ruled on Friday in favour of former senator Rex Patrick, who is seeking documents on whether Australian spies bugged Timor-Leste's government in 2004 to gain an edge in oil and gas talks. The tribunal ordered that the unclassified portions of a three-day hearing, due in late November, be held in public. The ruling matters because the government still refuses to confirm or deny that the operation, or any related records, exist.

The government's position

The Australian government and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Asis) maintain a so-called Glomar response: neither confirming nor denying that the bugging happened or that relevant documents exist. Asis argues that merely acknowledging such records could harm national security and Australia's standing with other countries.

Government lawyers asked that even the public sections of the hearing be closed, in case someone accidentally said something they should not. They proposed barring media and the public, with a transcript released only after review by the foreign intelligence agency. Justin Davidson, the deputy chief solicitor, said the stakes were "very high". ART deputy president Peter Britten-Jones rejected the proposal, saying officials were highly qualified and experienced and the risk of inadvertent disclosure was negligible.

Ewan McMillan, an Asis deputy director general, and Michelle Chan, a deputy secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, are due to testify when the case is heard in full.

Background

Patrick originally requested 2004 cabinet documents held by the National Archives of Australia. They relate to Australia's strategy in talks over the Timor Sea boundary after Timor-Leste gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. The negotiations decided control of the Greater Sunrise gasfields, whose resources are estimated at more than $50bn.

In 2004 Asis operatives planted listening devices in Timor-Leste government offices. The operation later came to light through a former Asis officer known as Witness K and lawyer Bernard Collaery. Timor-Leste withdrew its claims in The Hague in 2017, and a new maritime border was signed in 2018. President Jose Ramos-Horta said in 2019 that full disclosure would benefit the relationship.