By Gerry Harant
The Melbourne Age has exposed police continuing the spying previously done by the Victoria Police Special Branch, supposedly disbanded by the Cain Labor government in 1983. The revelations caused outrage as well as some amusement amongst the more than 1000 individuals and organisations named as targets.
In 1982, Joan Coxsedge, Ken Coldicutt and I published Rooted in Secrecy, which detailed the "work" of Australia's secret police agencies. The chapter on state police special branches could describe, almost word for word, the "revelations" now stirring up civil libertarians and others in Victoria.
For instance, 19 years ago, a former Queensland police commissioner described the Queensland Special Branch as having about 25 snoops infiltrating unions, student groups and "communist" movements. The list of targeted groups and individuals reads like that revealed by the Age: civil liberties groups, peace groups, those opposed to racism, environmentalists, resident action groups, prison reform movements and women's liberation groups.
In 1977, the recently elected NSW Labor government was forced by public opinion to reveal that the NSW Special Branch had 80,000 files on individuals and organisations. The number of "identified" communists was five times the national membership of the Communist Party of Australia in its heyday!
Evidence showed that highly damaging and often ludicrously false material was routinely passed on to ASIO, other NSW police squads, the NSW Public Service Board, other state special branches and even foreign consulates.
In South Australia, after a six-week investigation in 1977, Justice White found 40,000 index cards, 28,500 on individuals. The usual approach applied — there were lots files on anti-apartheid demonstrators, none on racists.
SA Police Commissioner Salisbury was remarkably frank as to why he had lied about Special Branch activities: "This is a secret operation".
Had he revealed details, he said, he would have merited severe criticism from "responsible and official quarters" and from "security organisations beyond SA". He said he had neither jurisdiction nor operational control over the Special Branch.
Victoria Special Branch was judged the most ruthless at the time. Under pressure following the disclosures in SA, and after 18 months of labouring, the branch produced a document called "Guidelines for Special Branch".
While predictably innocuous, it revealed that the branch was the sole arbiter of "subversive" activity and that protests and demonstrations were always viewed as leading to political violence. The guidelines stated that information based on rumours and lies should nevertheless be passed on to an authorised inquirer as long as its dubious status was mentioned.
After its election in 1982, the Cain government faced a serious dilemma. The Victorian ALP, in large part due to Labor MP Joan Coxsedge's tireless agitation, had the abolition of political police as policy. Coxsedge was the driving force behind the Campaign for the Abolition of Political Police.
When, in 1983, the Special Branch was seen filming the entire May Day march, Cain had the branch "disbanded" and announced that its files would be "destroyed" after "being thrown open to public inspection".
Those requesting access to the files, however, were told that, due to "an oversight", the files "had already been destroyed".
Like the hydra, the monster which grows two heads for every one lopped off, the Special Branch was replaced by the "Counter-terrorist Explosive Intelligence Unit" (don't laugh!), as well as the even more shadowy Operations Intelligence Unit.
Surprise, surprise! The OIU turns out to be identical to the old Special Branch, with the same old records, the same old ASIO overlords and the same victims.
In Kennett government statements attacking protest movements, information available only to police spies invariably surfaces.
For instance, in the protests against the closure of Richmond Secondary College, a snooper atop a four-wheel-drive vehicle was seen filming the crowd. Sure enough, in pronouncing the protest "political", Kennett listed all the usual suspects, including Flo Russell, who is well into her 80s.
Two years ago, while attacking the group Defenders of our Libraries, Bruce Atkinson, undersecretary for the Department of Local Government, listed about a dozen people with supposed ALP connections (some spurious). This knowledge could not easily have been gained except by infiltration of the group.
The only things that have changed are the "threats" being countered by the snoops. Rather than communists, spies, saboteurs and subversives, the current bogeys are "terrorists".
On October 10, Victorian Police Commissioner Comrie argued that terrorism is a major threat and exists in abundance in community organisations, making necessary surveillance of groups for people with disabilities, opponents of police shootings and community radio 3CR, amongst others.
Given these facts about special branches, it seems a pity that the anti-spying coalition set up in Melbourne on October 9 has decided on a largely legal approach. Led by lawyers, the group demands "accountability" (this already exists in the federal sphere, where a joint parliamentary committee on ASIO is not only sworn to secrecy but is never presented with material which may be controversial).
The coalition also decided to inquire into the lines of command and communication of the OIU, with the assumption that it is part of the Victoria Police and controlled by the state government, a notion already disposed of by SA Commissioner Salisbury in 1977.
The legal remedies to be attempted range from civil lawsuits to freedom of information applications. A bizarre notion of indicting police for wasting taxpayers' money also surfaced.
If, like some civil liberties lawyers, you feel that the system is democratic and benign, that snooping on and disadvantaging those who have not broken any law is a (sometimes justified) exception, you will concentrate on legalistic moves and demand "checks and balances" on the political police, despite its proven impossibility.
If, like many of us, you have seen and felt state violence and harassment and see this violence as the mailed fist in the democratic kid glove, you will understand the need to expose the oppressive nature of the system.
The Campaign for Abolition of Political Police firmly identified with the latter view. Perhaps it is time for a CAPP revival.