The Silencing of Dissent

It is well known that governments don’t like their affairs being aired publicly. You only need to look at what they have done to Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, arguably the most prolific government whistleblowers of our time.

But you don’t need to look beyond our own shores to see that none of us who speak out, are safe.

Reflecting on Those Who Have Recently Been Silenced

Annika Smethurst

Let’s reflect for a moment, upon the AFP raiding the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst ¹.

This occurred in 2019 due to a story she had received intelligence on and published ².

This story exposed a proposal to grant the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) the power to secretly access the digital information of Australians without obtaining a warrant.

It was subsequently found, after protracted litigation, that the warrant enabling the raid on Smethurst’s home was invalid ³.

Unnamed Indigenous Whistleblower

In March 2022, the home of an indigenous woman who was employed by the Department of Communities in Western Australia was also raided by police, some of whom were armed ⁴.

It was alleged that she leaked documents to the West Australian newspaper exposing racist behaviour towards Aboriginal staff within the organisation.

Raelene Cooper

Later that same year, indigenous woman Raelene Cooper also had her home raided ⁵.

Police arrived as she was giving evidence as an expert witness regarding the cumulative impact of industrial activity on the Burrup peninsula in northern Western Australia.

David McBride

Further, David McBride was sentenced to five years and eight months jail for leaking military documents to journalists which formed the basis of the ABC’s investigation The Afghan Files which exposed war crimes committed by Australian soldiers ⁶.

David was forced into pleading guilty after the ACT supreme court upheld a commonwealth intervention to withhold key evidence citing national security as the reason ⁷.

Julian Assange

Similar occurred to Julian Assange. In order to secure his release from Belmarsh prison in the UK, and enable his repatriation to Australia, he was forced to plead guilty in a plea deal ⁸.

Witness K and Bernard Colleary

Not forgetting Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery who were pursued relentlessly in the courts over the episode that exposed the Australian government bugging Timor’s cabinet room in order to gain competitive advantage in negotiations over oil and gas reserves ⁹ ¹⁰.

The New Normal

It is hard to suggest Australia is a free and just society when those who want to hold government to account are being bullied and intimidated into keeping quiet about issues they have observed.

Australian governments are clearly acting in a way that is corrupt, immoral, illegal, and not in the interests of those who they represent.

Losing control to the people is the one thing that terrifies governments of all persuasions.

More than ever, the people of Australia need to stand up, stand together and let it be known that we are not going to tolerate malfeasance and misconduct by those who represent us.

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