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NO, MINISTER WE ARE NOT FREE OF TERROR
Canberra Times, Australia
September 9, 2006 Saturday
I T WAS somewhat disturbing to hear someone as eminent as
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock claim on television on Monday that
there has never been a terrorist attack on Australian soil. The
reality is there have been many terrorism incidents, although the
number of deaths is quite low.
The first recorded act of terrorism in Australia was the shooting in
1868 of the visiting Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf beach in Sydney.
This caused great embarrassment, as he was the first royal visitor
to NSW.
The perpetrator, Henry James O'Farrell, was an Irishman from Victoria
and an alleged Fenian (predecessor organisation to the Irish Republican
Army).
This incident led to acrimonious exchanges between the NSW and Victoria
governments and, some claim, to today's adversarial relationship
between NSW and Victoria.
Fortunately, the Duke of Edinburgh did not die and Australia has
been relatively fortunate in the number of deaths attributable to
politically motivated violence (PMV). (This includes terrorism. The
term "politically" also embraces "ideologically", "sociologically"
and "religiously" motivated violence.) The bloodiest incident occurred
during World War I, in January 1915, when two Muslims, Mulla Abdullah
and Gool Mahomed, opened fire on a picnic train near the town of
Broken Hill in NSW.
They were members of a religious sect headed by the Sultan of Turkey
who apparently objected to Australia's military operations against
Turkey. Six died, including the two attackers.
There is little data about the period 1915 to the 1960s, although
there were undoubtedly violent incidents that were not recorded as
politically motivated.
During the 1960s and '70s, there were regular bombings and firebombings
involving the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB) and members
of the Serbian community - who in turn were backed by the Yugoslav
intelligence service. The HRB was a terrorist organisation formed in
Australia in the early 1960s by Croatian immigrants to Australia. It
was responsible for more than 120 terrorist acts in Australia and
Europe. Surprisingly, there were no resultant deaths in Australia.
In 1966, the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Arthur Calwell, was
shot in his car at Mosman, Sydney, by Peter Kocan, shortly after an
anti- Vietnam conscription meeting at the Town Hall. Calwell's lower
face was cut by flying glass, but he was not otherwise injured.
In February 1978, the next most significant incident in terms of loss
of life occurred outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. It has generally
been believed that members of Ananda Marga were responsible for an
improvised explosive device that detonated in a garbage truck, killing
a policeman, Constable Paul Burmistriw, and two garbage collectors,
William Favell and Alec Carter.
A Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting was taking place
at the hotel at the time.
The suggested intent of the attackers was to kill Indian Prime Minister
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, whose government's policies were detrimental
to Ananda Marga.
There are several books about this incident, such as Tom Molomby's
Spies, Bombs and The Path of Bliss, but there has never been any
certainty as to who was responsible.
If members of Ananda Marga were responsible, they could have been
acting without the sanction of the organisation.
Conspiracy theorists make the unlikely claim that Special Branch or
ASIO were responsible in an attempt to gain additional resources.
In June 1980, David Opas, a Parramatta family court judge, was shot
dead at the front door of his Woollahra, Sydney, home by a person or
persons unknown.
Then in December 1980, two members of the Justice Commandos of
the Armenian Genocide shot and killed Sarik Arijak, the Turkish
Consul-General, and his bodyguard, Engin Sever, at Dover Heights
in Sydney.
The perpetrators were believed to have flown into Australia to
undertake the operation with local support, and left after the
attack. No-one was ever prosecuted.
In December 1982, two members of the Palestinian group, 15 May, flew
in to Sydney and with local support bombed the Israeli Consulate-
General in Sydney and the Jewish Hakoah Club at Bondi. No one was
killed. The police case against the local supporters fell apart when
the key witness left the country.
In July 1984, Pearl Watson, the wife of a Parramatta Family Court
judge, Ray Watson, was killed by an improvised explosive device at
their Sydney home.
In November 1986, the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide
struck again. This time, two members resident in Sydney attempted
to bomb the Turkish Consulate in Caroline Street, South Yarra, in
Melbourne. The only person killed was Hagop Levonian, one of the
bombers. Levon Demirian, the other bomber, was arrested as he was
about to leave the country for Lebanon. He served 10 years in jail.
In 1989, David Locke, a member of the right-wing Australian Nationalist
Movement in Perth, was killed by two other members of the group,
who suspected him of being an ASIO or police informer.
In 1990, David Noble, a member of the right-wing group National Action
was murdered with an axe by two other members of the group after a
party to celebrate Hitler's birthday.
In April 1991, unknown assailants shot dead the chairman of the Coptic
Human Rights Commission, Dr Makeen Morcos, in Sydney, after he gave
a radio talk criticising Islamists and the Egyptian Government for
harassing and murdering Coptic Christians in Egypt. It is thought
that he was assassinated by agents of the Egyptian Government or one
of the Islamist groups in Australia.
Another National Action member, Wayne Smith, was murdered in April
1991 in Sydney because of suspicions that he was an ASIO or police
informant. This time, ASIO had a covert sound-activated microphone
at the site and the recording of his murder was later used to convict
an National Action member.
In 1993, the Reverend Doug Good, a pastor in Western Australia,
was stabbed to death just before going to officiate at a marriage
between a Christian man and an Iranian woman who had converted from
Islam to Christianity.
Good's attacker, an Iranian Muslim, killed the pastor at his home,
claiming he was defending himself from a homosexual advance.
In September 1994, John Newman, a Cabramatta politician, was shot
in the chest and killed. Seven years later, a jury found a bitter
political rival, former Fairfield city councillor Phuong Ngo, guilty
of masterminding the murder.
In 1996, suspected Islamic extremist Mohammad Hassanein entered
Australia with the possible intention of attacking, with local support,
Jewish targets. There is some dispute as to whether Hassanein was a
dangerous terrorist or simply a deluded individual.
The facts are that he did have past connections with an extremist
group in Egypt, he did travel here on a false passport, and he was in
Melbourne in the lead-up to a Jewish congress. As far as is known, he
had no access to weapons or explosives. ASIO and the Australian Federal
Police decided not to take any chances; he was arrested and deported.
In July 2001, anti-abortionist Peter James Knight shot and killed a
security guard, Steven Rogers, at a Melbourne abortion clinic.
In October 2002, Dr Margaret Tobin, the South Australian Director
of Mental Health, was shot four times in the back and killed in
her Adelaide office building. A deregistered Sydney psychiatrist,
Jean Eric Gassy, was found guilty of her murder. Dr Tobin had been
involved in his removal from the medical register.
By my count, the current death toll for PMV incidents in Australia
is at least 22 - 13 by shootings, five by improvised explosive
devices and four by stabbing or unknown circumstances.There have
been other well-known violent incidents in Australia, such as the
murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977 in Griffith,
or the Russell Street police headquarters bombing in Melbourne in
1986, but the primary motivation in those cases was criminal rather
than political.
A concern now is Islamist extremist "sleeper cells" in Australia that
could one day be responsible for much more deadly attacks than those
we have suffered in the past. This issue is complicated by the large
numbers of people who are here illegally and who have disappeared into
the general community. The Department of Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs estimates there are 60,000 people unaccounted for. If correct,
this presents ASIO and other national security agencies with a
near-impossible monitoring task, despite the good work they have
done in the past. A further concern now is "cleanskin" (no police or
security record) self-starter Islamist extremists, probably born or
brought up in Australia, who may act with little or no outside support.
The most likely cause of death would be from multiple improvised
explosive devices, similar to the bombings in Madrid, London and
Mumbai. We could then easily end up with numbers of dead and injured
far surpassing the total of all previous incidents in Australia.
Clive Williams is a Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence
Studies Centre, ANU.
Canberra Times, Australia
September 9, 2006 Saturday
I T WAS somewhat disturbing to hear someone as eminent as
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock claim on television on Monday that
there has never been a terrorist attack on Australian soil. The
reality is there have been many terrorism incidents, although the
number of deaths is quite low.
The first recorded act of terrorism in Australia was the shooting in
1868 of the visiting Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf beach in Sydney.
This caused great embarrassment, as he was the first royal visitor
to NSW.
The perpetrator, Henry James O'Farrell, was an Irishman from Victoria
and an alleged Fenian (predecessor organisation to the Irish Republican
Army).
This incident led to acrimonious exchanges between the NSW and Victoria
governments and, some claim, to today's adversarial relationship
between NSW and Victoria.
Fortunately, the Duke of Edinburgh did not die and Australia has
been relatively fortunate in the number of deaths attributable to
politically motivated violence (PMV). (This includes terrorism. The
term "politically" also embraces "ideologically", "sociologically"
and "religiously" motivated violence.) The bloodiest incident occurred
during World War I, in January 1915, when two Muslims, Mulla Abdullah
and Gool Mahomed, opened fire on a picnic train near the town of
Broken Hill in NSW.
They were members of a religious sect headed by the Sultan of Turkey
who apparently objected to Australia's military operations against
Turkey. Six died, including the two attackers.
There is little data about the period 1915 to the 1960s, although
there were undoubtedly violent incidents that were not recorded as
politically motivated.
During the 1960s and '70s, there were regular bombings and firebombings
involving the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB) and members
of the Serbian community - who in turn were backed by the Yugoslav
intelligence service. The HRB was a terrorist organisation formed in
Australia in the early 1960s by Croatian immigrants to Australia. It
was responsible for more than 120 terrorist acts in Australia and
Europe. Surprisingly, there were no resultant deaths in Australia.
In 1966, the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Arthur Calwell, was
shot in his car at Mosman, Sydney, by Peter Kocan, shortly after an
anti- Vietnam conscription meeting at the Town Hall. Calwell's lower
face was cut by flying glass, but he was not otherwise injured.
In February 1978, the next most significant incident in terms of loss
of life occurred outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. It has generally
been believed that members of Ananda Marga were responsible for an
improvised explosive device that detonated in a garbage truck, killing
a policeman, Constable Paul Burmistriw, and two garbage collectors,
William Favell and Alec Carter.
A Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting was taking place
at the hotel at the time.
The suggested intent of the attackers was to kill Indian Prime Minister
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, whose government's policies were detrimental
to Ananda Marga.
There are several books about this incident, such as Tom Molomby's
Spies, Bombs and The Path of Bliss, but there has never been any
certainty as to who was responsible.
If members of Ananda Marga were responsible, they could have been
acting without the sanction of the organisation.
Conspiracy theorists make the unlikely claim that Special Branch or
ASIO were responsible in an attempt to gain additional resources.
In June 1980, David Opas, a Parramatta family court judge, was shot
dead at the front door of his Woollahra, Sydney, home by a person or
persons unknown.
Then in December 1980, two members of the Justice Commandos of
the Armenian Genocide shot and killed Sarik Arijak, the Turkish
Consul-General, and his bodyguard, Engin Sever, at Dover Heights
in Sydney.
The perpetrators were believed to have flown into Australia to
undertake the operation with local support, and left after the
attack. No-one was ever prosecuted.
In December 1982, two members of the Palestinian group, 15 May, flew
in to Sydney and with local support bombed the Israeli Consulate-
General in Sydney and the Jewish Hakoah Club at Bondi. No one was
killed. The police case against the local supporters fell apart when
the key witness left the country.
In July 1984, Pearl Watson, the wife of a Parramatta Family Court
judge, Ray Watson, was killed by an improvised explosive device at
their Sydney home.
In November 1986, the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide
struck again. This time, two members resident in Sydney attempted
to bomb the Turkish Consulate in Caroline Street, South Yarra, in
Melbourne. The only person killed was Hagop Levonian, one of the
bombers. Levon Demirian, the other bomber, was arrested as he was
about to leave the country for Lebanon. He served 10 years in jail.
In 1989, David Locke, a member of the right-wing Australian Nationalist
Movement in Perth, was killed by two other members of the group,
who suspected him of being an ASIO or police informer.
In 1990, David Noble, a member of the right-wing group National Action
was murdered with an axe by two other members of the group after a
party to celebrate Hitler's birthday.
In April 1991, unknown assailants shot dead the chairman of the Coptic
Human Rights Commission, Dr Makeen Morcos, in Sydney, after he gave
a radio talk criticising Islamists and the Egyptian Government for
harassing and murdering Coptic Christians in Egypt. It is thought
that he was assassinated by agents of the Egyptian Government or one
of the Islamist groups in Australia.
Another National Action member, Wayne Smith, was murdered in April
1991 in Sydney because of suspicions that he was an ASIO or police
informant. This time, ASIO had a covert sound-activated microphone
at the site and the recording of his murder was later used to convict
an National Action member.
In 1993, the Reverend Doug Good, a pastor in Western Australia,
was stabbed to death just before going to officiate at a marriage
between a Christian man and an Iranian woman who had converted from
Islam to Christianity.
Good's attacker, an Iranian Muslim, killed the pastor at his home,
claiming he was defending himself from a homosexual advance.
In September 1994, John Newman, a Cabramatta politician, was shot
in the chest and killed. Seven years later, a jury found a bitter
political rival, former Fairfield city councillor Phuong Ngo, guilty
of masterminding the murder.
In 1996, suspected Islamic extremist Mohammad Hassanein entered
Australia with the possible intention of attacking, with local support,
Jewish targets. There is some dispute as to whether Hassanein was a
dangerous terrorist or simply a deluded individual.
The facts are that he did have past connections with an extremist
group in Egypt, he did travel here on a false passport, and he was in
Melbourne in the lead-up to a Jewish congress. As far as is known, he
had no access to weapons or explosives. ASIO and the Australian Federal
Police decided not to take any chances; he was arrested and deported.
In July 2001, anti-abortionist Peter James Knight shot and killed a
security guard, Steven Rogers, at a Melbourne abortion clinic.
In October 2002, Dr Margaret Tobin, the South Australian Director
of Mental Health, was shot four times in the back and killed in
her Adelaide office building. A deregistered Sydney psychiatrist,
Jean Eric Gassy, was found guilty of her murder. Dr Tobin had been
involved in his removal from the medical register.
By my count, the current death toll for PMV incidents in Australia
is at least 22 - 13 by shootings, five by improvised explosive
devices and four by stabbing or unknown circumstances.There have
been other well-known violent incidents in Australia, such as the
murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977 in Griffith,
or the Russell Street police headquarters bombing in Melbourne in
1986, but the primary motivation in those cases was criminal rather
than political.
A concern now is Islamist extremist "sleeper cells" in Australia that
could one day be responsible for much more deadly attacks than those
we have suffered in the past. This issue is complicated by the large
numbers of people who are here illegally and who have disappeared into
the general community. The Department of Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs estimates there are 60,000 people unaccounted for. If correct,
this presents ASIO and other national security agencies with a
near-impossible monitoring task, despite the good work they have
done in the past. A further concern now is "cleanskin" (no police or
security record) self-starter Islamist extremists, probably born or
brought up in Australia, who may act with little or no outside support.
The most likely cause of death would be from multiple improvised
explosive devices, similar to the bombings in Madrid, London and
Mumbai. We could then easily end up with numbers of dead and injured
far surpassing the total of all previous incidents in Australia.
Clive Williams is a Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence
Studies Centre, ANU.