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A control freak prone to missteps, mistakes . . . what US officials really thought of our former PM

Scathing attacks on Rudd

■ American envoy’s
blunt assessments
■ Confidential cables
to Washington exposed
SPECIAL REPORT
PHILIP DORLING
FOREIGN Minister Kevin Rudd
is an abrasive, impulsive ‘‘con-
trol freak’’ who presided over a
series of foreign policy blunders
during his time as prime minis-
ter, according to secret United
States diplomatic cables.
The scathing assessment —
detailed in messages sent by the
US embassy in Canberra to Sec-
retaries of State Condoleezza
Rice and Hillary Clinton over
several years — are among hun-
dreds of US State Department
cables relating to Australia
obtained by WikiLeaks and
made available exclusively to
The Age.
‘‘Rudd . . . undoubtedly
believes that with his intellect,
his six years as a diplomat in the
1980s and his five years as
shadow foreign minister, he has
the background and the ability
to direct Australia’s foreign
policy. His performance so far,
however, demonstrates that he
does not have the staff or the
experience to do the job prop-
erly,’’ the embassy bluntly
observed in November 2009.
The cables show how initially
favourable American impres-
sions of Mr Rudd, as ‘‘a safe pair
of hands’’, were quickly replaced
by sharp criticism of his micro-
management and mishandling
of diplomacy as he focused on
photo and media opportunities.
In a December 2008 review
of the first year of the Rudd gov-
ernment, US ambassador
Robert McCallum characterised
its performance as ‘‘generally
competent’’ and noted Mr Rudd
was ‘‘focused on developing
good relations with the incom-
ing US administration [of Presi-
dent Barack Obama], and is
eager to be seen as a major
global player’’.
Despite this, what were des-
cribed as ‘‘Rudd’s foreign policy
mistakes’’ formed the centre-
piece of the ambassador’s evalu-
ation. Mr McCallum thought the
prime minister’s diplomatic
‘‘missteps’’ largely arose from his
propensity to make ‘‘snap
announcements without con-
sulting other countries or within
the Australian government’’.
According to the embassy, the
government’s ‘‘significant blun-
ders’’ began when then foreign
minister Stephen Smith
announced in February 2008
that Australia would not support
strategic dialogue between Aus-
tralia, the US, Japan and India
out of deference to China. ‘‘This
was done without advance con-
sultation and at a joint press
availability with visiting Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi,’’ Mr
McCallum wrote.
Mr Rudd’s June 2008 speech
announcing that he would push
for the creation of an Asia-Pacific
Community loosely based on the
European Union was cited as a
further example of a major initi-
ative undertaken ‘‘without
advance consultation with either
other countries (including
South-East Asian nations, lead-
ing Singaporean officials to label
the idea dead on arrival) or
Not entirely in step: Kevin Rudd with former US president George Bush on a visit to Washington in March, 2008, months after Mr Rudd became prime minister.
within the Australian govern-
ment (including with his pro-
posed special envoy to promote
the concept, veteran diplomat
Richard Woolcott)’’.
Similarly Mr Rudd’s establish-
ment of an international com-
mission on nuclear disar-
mament and non-proliferation
was ‘‘rolled out . . . during a
photo-op heavy trip to Japan . . .
His Japanese hosts were given
insufficient advance notice and
refused a request for a joint
announcement’’.
The US embassy noted that
Mr Rudd did not consult any of
the five nuclear weapons states
on the United Nations Security
Council and that Russia had
lodged a formal protest. One of
Mr Rudd’s staff gave the US
embassy a few hours’ advance
notice of the announcement
‘‘but without details’’.
The cables also refer to ‘‘con-
trol freak’’ tendencies and ‘‘per-
sistent criticism from senior civil
servants, journalists and parlia-
mentarians that Rudd is a micro-
manager obsessed with man-
aging the media cycle rather
than engaging in collaborative
decision-making’’.
Eleven months later, in
November 2009, the embassy
delivered another sharp assess-
ment that Mr Rudd dominated
foreign policy decision-making,
‘‘leaving his foreign minister to
perform mundane, ceremonial
duties and relegating the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs and
Trade (DFAT) to a backwater’’.
‘‘Other foreign diplomats, in
private conversations with us,
have noted how much DFAT
seemed to be out of the loop,’’
US Charge d’Affaires Dan Clune
reported. ‘‘The Israeli ambas-
sador [Yuval Rotem] told us that
senior DFAT officials are frank in
asking him what PM Rudd is up
to and admit that they are out of
Continued PAGE 2
Gillard condemns leaks PAGE 2
Geoffrey Robertson to defend
Assange PAGE 2
COMMENT & DEBATE
John Garnaut PAGE 17
PICTURE: BLOOMBERG
THE FILES AND THE AGE
Some kinds of
embarrassment do not
The Age has secured access change public perceptions. That
is not likely to be the case here,
to hundreds of WikiLeaks
because the cables mentioning
documents that reveal US Mr Rudd portray the man who
embassy assessments of has closely directed Australian
Australia on a range of foreign policy since 2007 as a
important issues. We person whose judgment is too
begin publishing today. often warped by his own egotism.
EDITORIAL PAGE 16
The day
Kevin stood
up George
By PHILIP DORLING
KEVIN Rudd deeply offended
the US with an aggressive push
to meet then president George
W. Bush in Washington in late
2008, only to abruptly cancel the
meeting two days later.
This was followed by what
Americans saw as Mr Rudd’s
‘‘self-serving and inaccurate
leaking’’ of details of an October
2008 phone call between
Mr Bush and Mr Rudd — some-
thing the US ambassador to
Australia said “cast further
doubt on Rudd’s foreign policy
judgment’’.
A confidential cable details
that, ahead of a September 2008
visit to the US to attend the
annual United Nations summit,
Mr Rudd’s office demanded a
meeting with Mr Bush.
‘‘After making an aggressive,
and ultimately successful, push
for a meeting, the PM’s Office
abruptly cancelled the meeting
two days later, saying that Rudd
could not come to Washington,’’
then US ambassador Robert
McCallum wrote in the cable,
marked for American eyes only.
Mr Rudd ended up going to
New York and delivering a
speech to a near-empty hall of
the UN General Assembly,
where members of his staff were
seen asleep in the audience.
Mr McCallum was also
highly critical of Mr Rudd’s
behaviour after a newspaper
report that detailed a private
conversation the then prime
minister held with Mr Bush. The
article made Mr Bush appear
foolish at the outset of the
global financial crisis, reporting
Mr Rudd was ‘‘stunned to hear
Bush say, ‘What’s the G20?’ ’’.
The depth of US anger
revealed in the cable helps
explain the cold shoulder
Mr Bush gave Mr Rudd during a
November 2008 G20 summit.
Mr Rudd sought to dismiss as
media speculation at the time
that the leaked details about the
phone call had damaged his
relations with the White House.

ASSANGE
ARRESTED Beazley vowed to support Washington in war with China
PAGE 2 By PHILIP DORLING
and RICHARD BAKER
AUSTRALIA’S ambassador to
the US and former opposition
leader, Kim Beazley, assured
American officials that Australia
would always side with the US
in the event of a war with China,
a confidential diplomatic cable
reveals.
Mr Beazley’s remarks, made
in a 2006 meeting with the then
US ambassador Robert McCal-
lum just months before Kevin
Rudd replaced him as Labor
leader, are significant because
no Australian federal political
leader has publicly disclosed
what position they believe the
nation should take if the US and
China came to blows over Tai-
wan — an event that would
present Australia’s greatest for-
eign policy dilemma.
The cable, classified as con-
fidential and not to be disclosed
outside the US government,
gave the following summary of
Mr Beazley’s comments: ‘‘In the
event of a war between the
United States and China, Aus-
tralia would have absolutely no
alternative but to line up mili-
tarily beside the US. Otherwise
the alliance would be effectively
dead and buried, something
that Australia could never afford
to see happen.’’
The cable is one of hundreds
of US State Department docu-
ments relevant to Australia
released by the WikiLeaks web-
site to The Age. Two cables
reveal further insights into Aus-
tralia’s relations with China,
including a 2007 pledge by a
newly elected Mr Rudd to US
officials to ‘‘get inside the
heads’’ of China’s leaders and
the Australian government’s
belief that China had tried to
intimidate it through a series of
actions in 2009, including the
arrest of former Rio Tinto exec-
utive Stern Hu.
Mr Beazley was commenting
on 2004 remarks by the then
Howard government foreign
affairs minister, Alexander
Downer, that a conflict between
America and China over Taiwan
would not necessarily trigger
Australia’s obligations under the
ANZUS treaty with the US. The
ANZUS treaty, which came into
force in 1952, commits Australia
and the US to respond if the
armed forces of the other party
in the Pacific come under
attack.
Mr Downer’s comments —
which he insisted were taken
out of context — caused con-
cern in Washington and promp-
ted the then US ambassador
Tom Schieffer to declare that
America expected Australia’s
support in the event of conflict
over Taiwan.
The then prime minister
John Howard refused to com-
ment publicly on what Australia
would do if hostility broke out
between the US and China,
saying it was a hypothetical
situation.
However, Mr Beazley told
Mr McCallum that Mr Downer
should have ‘‘known better than
to have given Beijing any notion
that Canberra would be able to
sit out a conflict’’, the cable
states.
The publication of Mr Beaz-
ley’s remarks comes at a sensi-
tive time in Australia’s increas-
ingly complex relationship with
China. Earlier this week,
another cable released by
WikiLeaks revealed how
Mr Rudd, now Australia’s For-
eign Affairs Minister, last year
told US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton to be prepared ‘‘to
deploy force’’ if efforts to inte-
grate China into the interna-
tional community failed.
A fresh WikiLeaks cable
released to The Age discloses the
Australian government’s belief
Continued PAGE 2

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 THE AGE
2 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2010
THE AGE TODAY
OPINION
John Garnaut on China’s
foreign policy dilemma
‘China’s leaders recog-
nise that their country’s
assertiveness is caus-
ing anxiety in South
Korea and across the
region.’ PAGE 17
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London police arrest WikiLeaks founder
Sweden issues European warrant
By PAOLA TOTARO
LONDON
JULIAN Assange, the founder of
the WikiLeaks website that leak-
ed thousands of classified US
military and State Department
documents, has been arrested
by London police over rape
allegations made in Sweden.
The Metropolitan Police
extradition unit confirmed at
10.30am London time yesterday
that the 29-year-old Australian
had been arrested “by appoint-
ment” on a European arrest
warrant an hour earlier.
He was expected to appear in
the City of Westminster magis-
trate’s court overnight.
The Swedish warrant cites
one count of unlawful coercion,
two counts of sexual molesta-
tion and one count of rape — all
allegedly committed in August
this year.
As Mr Assange met London
police, human-rights lawyer
Geoffrey Robertson, QC, cut
short his summer holiday in
Sydney to prepare to represent
WikiLeaks founder with another
specialist extradition lawyer
from his Doughty Street Cham-
bers.
London legal sources warned
that the European arrest war-
rant issued over sexual assault
claims in Sweden was difficult
to ‘‘avoid or challenge’’. Mr
Assange and his lawyers plan to
fight the extradition with every
available resource.
There is growing fear that
this case could lead to a han-
dover to US authorities over the
release of the US diplomatic
cables.
The Age believes that Mr
Robertson, whose chambers are
Scathing attacks on Rudd revealed in US diplomatic cables
From PAGE 1
the loop.’’ Mr Clune added that
morale within DFAT had ‘‘plum-
meted, according to our con-
tacts inside as well as outside
the department’’.
The embassy also assigned
blame for DFAT’s decline to the
weakness of Mr Smith, who was
dismissed as being ‘‘on vacation’’.
‘‘Surprised by his appoint-
ment as foreign minister, Smith
has been very tentative in
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THE ARTS
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Philippa Hawker reports.
PAGE 19
one of the few with a specialist
in extradition proceedings with
Scandinavian nations, has been
in contact with Mr Assange
about his defence and has met
federal Attorney-General Robert
McClelland about the case.
Mr Assange’s arrest came as
his whistleblower website con-
tinued to battle a seemingly
global effort to block release of
further information led by US
Attorney-General Eric Holder.
Mr Holder said he had author-
ised significant actions aimed at
prosecuting the WikiLeaks
founder but refused to specify
what these might be.
However, a statement from
WikiLeaks after the arrest said
that the actions against Mr
Assange would not affect its
operations and that it would
release more cables overnight as
usual.
Mr Assange, 39, was reported
by The Guardian to be seeking
supporters to put up surety and
bail to stave off attempts to hold
him. He reportedly told friends
he was increasingly convinced
the US was behind Swedish
attempts to extradite him.
He has previously said that
the original allegations were the
product of ‘‘personal issues’’ but
he believed Sweden had
behaved as ‘‘a cipher’’ for the
US.
He is wanted by Swedish
detectives after two women
claimed they were sexually
assaulted by him when he vis-
ited the country last August. The
Swedish Supreme Court upheld
an order to detain him for ques-
tioning after he successfully
appealed against two lower
court rulings.
Mr Assange has said he
asserting himself within the
government,’’ Mr Clune wrote.
‘‘DFAT contacts lamented that
Smith took a very legalistic
approach to making decisions,
demanding very detailed and
time-consuming analysis by the
department and using the quest
for more information to defer
making decisions.’’
David Pearl, a Treasury offi-
cial who served on Mr Smith’s
staff in 2004, told American dip-
lomats that the foreign minister
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FOCUS
Now you’re talking
The people of a remote,
troubled Aboriginal community
have been given hope by a
new police strategy where
officers speak the language.
Russell Skelton reports.
A detail from the Interpol website on December 6 shows the appeal for the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
declined to return to Sweden to
face prosecutors because he
feared he would not receive a
fair trial and that prosecutors
had requested that he be held
in solitary confinement.
But the constant need to be
on the move is taking its toll and
he has conceded he is becoming
exhausted by the battle to keep
defending the allegations in
Sweden while running the care-
fully managed release of the US
cables.
The site’s access to funds is
was ‘‘very smart, but intimid-
ated both by the foreign policy
issues themselves and the
knowledge that PM Rudd is fol-
lowing them so closely’’.
Former DFAT first assistant
secretary for north Asia, Peter
Baxter, lamented to embassy
officers that ‘‘Smith’s desire to
avoid overruling DFAT recom-
mendations meant that he often
delayed decisions to the point
that the PM’s office stepped in
and took over’’.
MONEY
When trust is a must
Anneli Knight finds out what
makes a perfect fit between
financial planner and client.
PAGE 15
also being slowly squeezed as
financial institutions succumb
to US and other diplomatic
pressure.
US political rhetoric and
attacks against WikiLeaks are
also escalating, with former
vice-presidential candidate
Sarah Palin describing Mr
Assange as ‘‘an anti-American
operative with blood on his
hands’’. Veteran Republican
Mike Huckabee said ‘‘anything
less than execution is too kind a
penalty’’.
The US embassy further
recounted that after Israel initi-
ated its military offensive in
Gaza in December 2008, Israeli
Ambassador Yuval Rotem con-
tacted Mr Smith at his home in
Perth to ask for Australia’s public
support. Despite the obvious
diplomatic and political sensit-
ivity of the issue, ‘‘Rotem told
[the embassy] that Smith’s
response was that he was on
vacation, and that the ambas-
sador needed to contact deputy
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NATIONAL TIMES
Machinations past
Shakespearean treachery has
nothing on modern-day
diplomacy, writes Warwick
INSIDE McFadyen in his Wokkapedia
blog at theage.com.au/
nationaltimes
Information theft illegal, says Gillard
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard
could not say yesterday that
Julian Assange had broken any
Australia law but declared the
‘‘foundation stone’’ of the
WikiLeaks affair was ‘‘an illegal
act’’.
In a fresh condemnation of
Mr Assange, she said: ‘‘Informa-
tion was taken and that was
illegal — so let’s not try to put
prime minister Gillard, who was
acting prime minister and for-
eign minister at the time.’’
Paradoxically, Mr Rudd’s
determination to dominate the
foreign policy agenda dimin-
ished the influence of his own
department, with one DFAT
assistant secretary explaining to
the embassy that the foreign
policy staff of the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cab-
inet (PM&C) were ‘‘over-
whelmed supporting Rudd’s
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any glosses on this. Information highlighted a warrant for alleged
would not be on WikiLeaks if sexual assault in Sweden.
there had not been an illegal act Opposition frontbencher
undertaken. The foundation Malcolm Turnbull, who in the
stone is an illegal act that cer- famous Spycatcher case argued
tainly breached the laws of the successfully for a former MI5
United States of America.’’ officer’s right to publish his
She said Australia Federal memoirs, yesterday accused Ms
Police had yet to provide advice Gillard of not knowing what she
about any potential criminal was talking about.
conduct by Mr Assange, and she MICHELLE GRATTAN
foreign policy activities, particu-
larly his travel, which has
reduced its ability to push its
own agenda’’.
In concluding his assess-
ment, Mr Clune suggested that
Mr Rudd’s ‘‘haphazard, overly
secretive decision-making pro-
cess’’ would continue to gener-
ate foreign policy problems.
Seven months later, Mr Rudd
lost the prime ministership, but
he remains very much in charge The former US ambassador to Australia, Robert McCallum, being
of Australia’s diplomacy. farewelled by Mr Rudd last year.
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Beazley
vowed
to back US
From PAGE 1
that China had attempted to
intimidate it during 2009
through aggressive lobbying,
increased public criticism, the
arrest of Mr Hu and the ‘‘time-
worn tactic’’ of cancelling high-
level visits.
The confidential December
2009 cable from the US embassy
in Beijing quotes the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs and
Trade’s first assistant secretary
for north Asia, Graham Fletcher,
as saying Australia had stood up
to the Chinese pressure and
forced its leaders to soften their
approach in the latter part of the
year.
‘‘We learned we can make
them blink,’’ the cable quotes
Mr Fletcher as saying, before
adding his view that it was ‘‘only
round one’’.
Mr Fletcher is recorded
describing how China had gone
to great lengths to pressure Aus-
tralia not to give Uighur leader
Rebiya Kadeer a visa last year,
including ‘‘privately warning a
major Australian bank that
sponsors the National Press
Club to use its influence to
block a Kadeer speech there’’.
He told the US officials of the
federal government’s concern
that cracking down too hard on
Chinese lobbying in Australia
would ‘‘simply drive it
underground’’.
Meanwhile, a previously
unreleased December 2007
cable from the US embassy in
Canberra following a meeting
between Mr Rudd and
Mr McCallum records Mr Rudd
as stating his intention to
engage China and ‘‘get inside
the heads of their senior leader-
ship on their long-term plans’’.
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THE WIKILEAKS FILES: DAY 4

CHINA AND THE BIG MINERS

How BHP sank $21bn Rio deal

Mining giant’s intense lobbying
led to collapse of Chinalco bid
By PHILIP DORLING
and RICHARD BAKER
MINING giant BHP Billiton lob-
bied intensively behind the
scenes to wreck a $21 billion
investment deal between rival
Rio Tinto and Chinese
government-owned Chinalco,
leaked US government cables
reveal.
According to a confidential
US embassy cable obtained by
the Wikileaks website and
released to The Age, federal
Treasurer Wayne Swan’s chief of
staff told American embassy
officials that BHP had out-
manoeuvred its rival to orches-
trate the collapse of the
Chinalco deal.
The revelation is embarrass-
ing for BHP Billiton, which has
consistently refused to be drawn
on suggestions it had engaged
in a campaign to persuade fed-
eral government ministers not
to approve Chinalco’s push to
double its stake in Rio Tinto.
On June 5 last year, the
Chinese bid to lift its investment
in Rio Tinto to 18 per cent col-
lapsed and Rio Tinto immedi-
ately announced a joint venture
with BHP Billiton to combine
their West Australian iron ore
operations.
“Treasurer Wayne Swan’s
chief of staff has told us on sev-
eral occasions that BHP has
played its cards with consum-
mate skill, in part due to the
increasing marginalisation of
Legal fury over speech PAGE 5
INSIGHT
Gathering secrets in the new age
Editorial
Shaun Carney, Peter Gordon
BHP CEO Marius Kloppers as
BHP chairman Don Argus has
taken the lead in lobbying the
GOA (government of Australia)
with the able assistance of BHP’s
well-connected VP for govern-
ment relations, Bernie Delaney,’’
the June 7 cable said.
The cable confirms an
account by Treasury’s top for-
mer China economist, Stephen
Joske, who last year said Mr
Argus and other BHP Billiton
executives targeted then prime
minister Kevin Rudd, Mr Swan,
Resources Minister Martin Fer-
guson and their advisers over
Chinalco’s bid to invest more in
Rio Tinto.
‘‘Emails from BHP were cir-
culating at the highest levels,
copied in to ministers’ offices,
about all the ‘China Inc’ stuff,’’
A mystery,
a mansion,
Mr Joske told The Age last year
after leaving Treasury in July.
and a man
The US government cable
said Rio Tinto’s decision to reject
what would have been China’s
biggest foreign investment
of mettle
“spared” the Australian govern-
ment from having to make a
tough decision on whether to
approve the proposal.
But US embassy officials in
Canberra noted it left Mr Rudd PHILIP
having to deal with “an unhappy DORLING
China’’.
‘‘We noticed a very glum GETTING to WikiLeaks’ secret
Chinese ambassador Zhang headquarters took quite some
Junsai waiting outside Rudd’s time and was not without
office with the Chinalco CEO complication.
Xiong Weiping on the afternoon Earlier this year, a careful
of June 5,’’ the cable said. reading of statements by
In an early assessment, the WikiLeaks founder and editor-
Canberra embassy warned in-chief Julian Assange led me
Washington that the proposed to conclude his small organisa-
Chinalco deal ‘‘could lead to tion had landed what could be
a wave of strategic mining the biggest ever leak of classified
investments from China which government information — a
could lead to closer resources vast trove of American diplo-
and energy trade and invest- matic documents that, among
ment ties between China and other things, would provide
Australia.’’ deep insight into the realities of
The embassy also reported Australia’s relationship with our
that Chinese-based resource most important ally, the United
analysts had ‘‘assessed that the States.
proposed deal would give As a journalist, I thought this
Chinalco a strong degree of was a story worth going for.
influence over Rio’s copper, iron Curiously few, if any others,
ore and aluminum operations, thought likewise.
if not outright control, via the Consistent with the old
joint strategic alliances that journalistic maxim that ‘‘Noah is
would be formed to manage a better story than flood con-
those assets’’. trol’’ most media interest was
The American officials focused on Assange himself,
Continued PAGE 4 admittedly an elusive and
intensely interesting figure,
rather than what he might be

Stern Hu: Rio’s secret role about to release through the

By PHILIP DORLING
and RICHARD BAKER
RIO Tinto privately gave
Chinese security authorities
incriminating evidence relating
to jailed former staff, including
senior executive Stern Hu, while
the company was publicly fight-
ing their prosecution on corrup-
tion charges last year.
The company informed the
authorities that it had found
$4400 in cash in the room of one
of the four employees who had
been arrested and were later
convicted of taking bribes and
stealing commercial secrets.
The revelation is contained
in a confidential cable from US
government representatives in
Taiwan obtained by the Wiki-
leaks website and released
exclusively to The Age.
The cable, sent on Septem-
ber 16 last year, reports Rio
Tinto iron ore sales chief Ian
Bauert telling the US repre-
sentatives the company’s
internal investigators had found
that one of its Shanghai-based
employees had received $20,000
in “dividends’’ from private
Chinese steel mills, while the
$4400 was found in the room of
another worker almost two
months after it was searched
and sealed by Chinese authori-
ties.
‘‘Rio’s internal investigations
have uncovered no evidence of
employees stealing secrets but
have found two employees
holding relatively small
amounts of money from sources
they cannot verify,” the cable
noted.
ARTWORK: MICHAEL WHITEHEAD
Continued PAGE 4
WikiLeaks website.
Six months of emails,
clandestine meetings and
confidential exchanges followed
before arrangements for a visit
to Britain were locked in.
WikiLeaks takes security very
seriously, and they are right to
do so.
Consequently, I flew out
from Australia last month with-
out a specific destination in
Britain — only an instruction on
Tall, lean and travelling as light as a fugitive, he’s a 21st century cyber cowboy. arrival at Heathrow Airport to
proceed to a certain railway
Clint Eastwood with a laptop and a data stick. station, taking precautions to
see whether I was followed.
ANDREW RULE on the enigmatic Julian Assange INSIGHT There, using a public
Continued PAGE 4

WEATHER ODD SPOT INDEX ISSN 0312-6307

MELBOURNE DAMS
MELBOURNE Late showers 13 — 22 MILDURA Mostly sunny 11 — 23 Life-sized cutouts of female police officers in mini- ARTS PAGE 20 MINDGAMES A2 42, 43
BALLARAT Shower or two 8 — 16
BENDIGO Shower or two 10 — 20
GEELONG Possible storms 11 — 22
HORSHAM Shower or two 10 — 21
SALE Sunny 11 — 24
WARRNAMBOOL Storms 12 — 18
WODONGA Partly cloudy 11 — 22
Details PAGE 19
48.3
52.8%
AAYEAR
YEARAGO:
AGO:35.3%
38%
skirts placed alongside roads have managed to slow
down speeding Czech drivers. Mrakotin mayor Miro-
slav Pozar, denies this is because the drivers want to
look at the officer’s legs, rather than her uniform.
CLASSIFIEDS BUSINESSDAY 12-15
COMMENT & DEBATE INSIGHT 7
EDITORIALS, LETTERS INSIGHT 6
LOTTERIES PAGE 12
SHARES
TELEVISION
TRIBUTES
WORLD
BUSINESSDAY 7, 8
A2 46, 47
BUSINESSDAY 10
PAGES 15-18
9 770312 630066
B C D

METAGE A001
 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010
4 News theage.com.au

THE WIKILEAKS FILES DAY FOUR

A mystery,
a mansion,
and a man
of mettle
From PAGE 1
telephone, I was to call a number that
had been provided earlier through a
secure channel. A voice on the other
end of the line gave a single word
reply to my call — the name of a rail-
way station outside London.
Some hours later, I arrived on a
windswept railway platform some-
where in rural England. Only a cou-
ple of other passengers got off at this
bleak location and the platform was
quickly deserted. I wondered what
the next step would be.
After a moment, a figure emerged
from the shadows, with a cap pulled
down over his head and coat collar
turned up. There was a quick greet-
ing, and then a long drive through the
countryside to WikiLeaks’ temporary
headquarters, made available by a
generous and hospitable benefactor.
At the door I was greeted by
Assange himself, unassuming in
T-shirt, tracksuit pants and socks
with holes in them. We got straight
down to business, which was the
imminent release, in conjunction
with some of the world’s leading
newspapers, of a torrent of highly
sensitive US diplomatic secrets.
Without going into too many
details, the setting was utterly incon-
gruous. The residence was a marvel-
lous example of Georgian elegance, a
relic of the pre-industrial age care-
fully preserved by its owner but
demonstrating the challenges of
maintaining buildings that are close
to 300 years old. This nuclear-proof bunker in Stockholm is home to a data centre holding 8000 servers — two of which belong to WikiLeaks. The servers — two slim, black, plastic boxes surrounded by wires — are kept in a locked white cabinet. PICTURE: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND, AFP
On the walls of the drawing room,
effectively the WikiLeaks operations Air Force would rattle the windows, to journalism and media liaison. pered and good humoured, ready to A frequent theme is the need to me through the years. WikiLeaks was He is a strategic thinker with a
room, paintings of long-dead prompting jokes about a possible air- It’s a truly multinational enter- discuss issues and carefully consider cut through the hypocrisy and cant created around these core values.’’ commitment to his cause that tran-
defenders of the British Empire, most strike. prise with accents from around the advice. that fills so much of political dis- Through his own efforts, Assange scends his own interests. He has
in scarlet uniforms, looked down on For a tiny organisation working globe heard across the breakfast He’s certainly a strategic thinker course by affording citizens the has well and truly kicked the hornets given much thought to the question
an impressive tangle of computer under immense pressure, the atmo- table. Not that everyone appears at with a fair amount of political and opportunity to see and hear directly nest. He’s now sitting in an English of how WikiLeaks might defend itself
laptops, printers, wires, power cables sphere in temporary WikiLeaks HQ breakfast. WikiLeaks runs on a 24 media nous that has turned his small what their political leaders think and prison cell awaiting the outcome of from the most serious and sustained
and other equipment. was remarkably calm and relaxed. hour/7 days a week basis, so a good organisation into a global phe- say in private. extradition proceedings that could attacks, and indeed how the group
It is said that the security- On the eve of its biggest docu- proportion of the key personnel are nomenon. In an article published at the see him taken to Sweden to be ques- might function without him, its foun-
conscious Assange changes mobile ments release, the main work area essentially nocturnal. Having entered into discussions beginning of this week, he referred to tioned in regard to sexual miscon- der and principal organiser and
phones as often as most people was often silent, apart from the As for Assange himself, he is an on the basis of confidentiality, I’m some of his formative political exper- duct allegations, but which could spokesman. Consequently, although
change shirts. This is an understate- sound of typing on laptops as docu- impressive figure. Highly intelligent, not going to repeat his observations, iences. also open the door for him to be sent small, it is an organisation with con-
ment. Tables were covered with ments were formatted and last articulate and indeed charismatic in but I found him a highly engaging, ‘‘I grew up in a Queensland coun- across the Atlantic to face the wrath siderable resilience.
mobile phones and SIM cards strewn minute communications made with a quiet sort of way, he is deeply com- thoughtful conversationalist, try town, where people spoke their of the US Government. The global frenzy about WikiLeaks
around like confetti. Resting in one the newspapers partnered in the mitted to his cause. And he certainly whether across the dinner table or minds bluntly,’’ he wrote. ‘‘They dis- It is reported that he is in good is likely to continue for a long time to
corner was Assange’s backpack, release. isn’t in it for the money. while trekking around a muddy field trusted big government as something spirits, and as a highly self-contained come. There will be many twists and
literally carrying all his worldly Although WikiLeaks enjoys the For someone working in circum- in the deepening gloom of an English that could be corrupted if not person he probably has the inner turns in the story. But one way or
goods. support of a large pool of volunteers, stances of immense pressure, both winter evening. watched carefully. The dark days of resources to cope well with his cur- another, it looks like WikiLeaks is
In the morning, the neighbouring the inner core is a small, highly com- professional and personal, he was He certainly pays very close atten- corruption in the Queensland gov- rent difficult circumstances. here to stay and governments around
countryside reverberated to the mitted group of people, all working remarkably calm, focused and meas- tion to political developments in Aus- ernment before the Fitzgerald But whatever the outcome of the world will just have to get used to
sounds of gunfire as the English on an expenses reimbursed-only ured. Contrary to reports that he is an tralia and has a keen sense of the Inquiry are testimony to what hap- these legal proceedings, one thing that.
upper class indulged its passion for basis, with a remarkably diverse set eccentric egomaniac, running his importance of encouraging greater pens when the politicians gag the was clear from my visit to the
shooting defenceless birds. Occa- of skills ranging from computer pro- small ship like Captain Bligh, he gave openness and transparency in his media from reporting the truth.’’ WikiLeaks headquarters and my dis- Philip Dorling is a senior Fairfax investigative
sionally low-flying jets of the Royal gramming and language translation every appearance of being well tem- home country. ‘‘These things have stayed with cussions with Assange. journalist.

Company role in China staff prosecutions
From PAGE 1
‘‘Rio reported this finding to the
Public Security Bureau.’’
It is unclear whether either
of the Rio Tinto employees
found to be in possession of the
money was Australian citizen
Stern Hu, who was sentenced to
10 years’ jail in March for
accepting bribes and stealing
state secrets. Hu’s three Chinese
colleagues were also jailed.
The prosecution appeared to
produce substantial evidence to
sustain the bribery charges
against the four. However,
the proceedings that led to
Hu’s conviction for stealing
state secrets remain a mystery
as Australian officials were
locked out of that part of the
trial.
At the time Rio investigators
discovered the money in
September last year, Chinese
authorities had recently
changed the charges against the
Rio Tinto four from paying
bribes to accepting bribes. This
was significant for Rio Tinto as it
effectively meant the company
was no longer suspected of
sponsoring bribes through its
Shanghai office.
In July 2009, Rio Tinto’s iron
ore chief executive, Sam Walsh,
said the allegations against the
four were ‘‘wholly without
foundation’’ and the company
was ‘‘fully supportive of our
detained employees’’.
After their convictions in
March this year, Mr Walsh
sacked the men for ‘‘deplorable’’
conduct in accepting bribes.
The September 2009 US
diplomatic cable records Mr
Bauert telling American officials
that Rio Tinto’s investigations
had found no evidence that the
four men had gathered informa-
tion illegally or were in posses-
sion of Chinese commercial
secrets.
The cable noted Mr Bauert
saying he visited Hu on August
31 last year and found him to be
in good physical shape but
deteriorating emotionally.
‘‘Hu complained that his
arrest was politically motivated,
inspired by the failed Rio-
Chinalco deal, iron ore price
negotiations and a recently
announced BHP-Rio joint pro-
duction deal,’’ the cable attrib-
uted Mr Bauert as saying.
Another confidential US gov-
ernment cable from its
consulate-general in Hong Kong
in July last year, Australia’s
ambassador in Beijing, Geoff
Raby, said the arrest of Hu and
his colleagues had taken him by
surprise and was a ‘‘complete
mess’’.
‘‘Ambassador Raby stressed
that he had seen no evidence
thus far to suggest that Hu was
involved in any activities that
could be considered other than
normal for commercial negoti-
ations,’’ the cable reported.
It noted Mr Raby describing
how it was common for com-
panies such as Rio Tinto to
share information with the Aus-
tralian government, including
material related to commercial
negotiations.
‘‘Raby asserted, however,
that following a careful review
of the record, it appeared that all
the negotiation-related materi-
als Hu had obtained were in the
public record,’’ the cable said.
‘‘He noted that the most
sensitive piece of information
Rio had obtained was the fact
that the China Iron & Steel Asso-
ciation was aiming to negotiate
a 47 per cent price reduction
with the major iron ore suppli-
ers, rather than the 33 per cent
reduction agreed to by Japanese
and Korean steel mills.
‘‘Raby indicated that as a
result of CISA’s tendency to
negotiate in public, this inform-
ation was widely reported in the
press and well known to anyone
involved in the negotiations.’’
The American diplomats
concluded that Hu’s arrest had
‘‘spooked a few multinational
corporations in China’’.
‘‘The malleable definition of
what constitutes a state secret
has a potentially chilling effect
on those doing business in
China,’’ the cable said.
Meanwhile, a further US gov-
ernment cable quoted the
French ambassador to China
saying Beijing’s hands were ‘‘not
clean’’ because of its attempts to
obtain information on iron ore
price negotiations with Austra-
lian companies.
How BHP sank Rio deal
From PAGE 1
attributed the collapse of the
Chinalco-Rio Tinto deal to
backroom lobbying by BHP Bil-
liton, which led to the Rudd gov-
ernment delaying its decision
on whether to approve the bid.
During this time, global com-
modity prices improved to the
extent that Rio Tinto no longer
needed Chinalco’s cash injec-
tion to stave off debt incurred by
fighting off an earlier takeover
attempt by BHP Billiton.
‘‘Having worked hard to tor-
pedo the Rio-Chinalco deal,
BHP believes that it has scored a
major victory by preventing a
state-owned Chinese firm from
influencing iron ore pricing
negotiations from the producer
side,’’ the cable reported.
‘‘BHP has been lobbying
extensively to block the deal,
highlighting concerns about
Chinese investment and the
possibility that seats on the Rio
board would give the Chinese
representatives important
insights into the producer side
of the annual iron ore price
negotiations.
‘‘Chinalco has made clear
that it considers the Rudd gov-
ernment’s reluctance to approve
the deal (as) one of the major
reasons for its collapse.’’
In March this year, the
Chinese government released a
post-mortem on the collapse of
the Chinalco-Rio Tinto deal
which cleared the Australian
government and the mining
company of any role in killing
the proposal.
But the Chinese report sin-
gled out BHP Billiton for waging
a behind-the-scenes campaign
against Chinalco which helped
fuel an Australian backlash and
influence the Rudd government.
The US government cables
make it clear BHP knew the
Chinese were angered by its role
in frustrating Chinalco’s bid,
with BHP executive Mr Delaney
telling American diplomats his
company needed ‘‘damage con-
trol’’ with the Chinese Govern-
ment to contain the fallout from
the collapsed Rio Tinto deal.
In a separate cable, US offi-
cials quoted West Australian
Premier Colin Barnett saying his
visit to China — which took
place in the wake of Rio Tinto’s
rebuff of Chinalco — was
‘‘tough’’ with terms like ‘‘treach-
ery’’ being used in initial meet-
ings with Chinese officials.
US officials concluded that
the BHP Billiton joint venture
with Rio Tinto ‘‘will greatly con-
cern global steel producers who
already believed those two com-
panies had too much power to
set iron ore prices’’.

Planners Seeking Something New! Professional Support Manager

> Help to Shape the Built Environment
> Build Healthy Communities
> Circa $80K TEP, FT, Permanent Position
An independent charity, the Heart Foundation’s mission is to reduce suffering and death from heart, stroke,
and blood vessel disease in Australia. Their vision is for Australians to have the best cardiovascular health in
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As Active Living, Senior Project Officer, you will report directly to Active Living Manager and play a key role
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You have gained your experience in any number of areas including urban design; transport, social or strategic
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Please respond by quoting ref. no 2008787 via email to resume@sacsconsult.com.au (in Word format) or
telephone Clare McCartin on 03 8622 8517 or Kate Sawyer on 03 8622 8509 for a confidential discussion.
67012
> Contribute to the Community
> Support this Vitally Important Sector
> Package Circa $80K
The Community Child Care Association of Victoria is a community based, non profit organisation which
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Please respond by quoting ref. no 2008790 via email to resume@sacsconsult.com.au (in Word format) or
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67023
DIRECTOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE
„ World leading conservation organisation
„ Critical lead role
„ Drive community awareness
Zoos Victoria is a leader in the evolving conservation sector and is committed to
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Lend your considerable vision for the future by contacting us today.
To be considered for this pivotal role please call John Sturdy or Brad Cunningham
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WE/011

CONSERVATION & SCIENCE

NATAGE A004
 12 PAGES OF WEATHER
2010 TERTIARY EXPERT ADVICE Early showers,
becoming sunny
FOR STUDENTS
ENTRANCE GUIDE INSIDE
later
12-24
X Details PAGE 19

PUBLISHED IN MELBOURNE SINCE 1854 MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2010 $1.50 GST
INC

THE WIKILEAKS FILES: DAY 6

ISRAEL, IRAN & THE MIDDLE EAST

Nuclear war: our fear of Iran

Risk Australia, US may
be involved in conflict
By PHILIP DORLING
AUSTRALIAN intelligence agen-
cies fear that Israel may launch
military strikes against Iran and
Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear cap-
abilities could draw the US and
Australia into a potential
nuclear war in the Middle East.
Australia’s peak intelligence
agency has also privately under-
cut the hardline stance towards
Tehran of the US, Israeli and
Australian governments, saying
its nuclear program is intended
to deter attack and it is a
mistake to regard Iran as a rogue
state.
The warnings about the
dangers of nuclear conflict in
the Middle East are given in a
secret US embassy cable
In the long sweep of history
Assange will be seen more
as hero than as villain.
PAUL BARRATT,
former Defence secretary
COMMENT &&DEBATE
COMMENT DEBATEPAGE 1313
PAGE
obtained by WikiLeaks and
provided exclusively to The Age.
They reflect views obtained by
US intelligence liaison officers
in Canberra from Australian
intelligence agencies.
‘‘The AIC’s [Australian intelli-
gence community’s] leading
concerns with respect to Iran’s
nuclear ambitions centre on
understanding the time frame
of a possible weapons capabil-
ity, and working with the United
States to prevent Israel from
independently launching unco-
ordinated military strikes
against Iran,’’ the US embassy in
Canberra reported to Washing-
ton in March last year.
‘‘They are immediately con-
cerned that Iran’s pursuit of
nuclear capabilities would lead
to a conventional war — or even
nuclear exchange — in the
Middle East involving the
United States that would draw
Australia into a conflict.’’
Australian concerns about a
possible Israeli military strike
against Iran are also recorded in
another US embassy cable, sent
to Washington in December
2008, reporting on discussions
between Peter Varghese, then
chief of Australia’s peak intelli-
gence agency, the Office of
National Assessments (ONA),
and the then head of the US
State Department’s Bureau of
Intelligence and Research (INR),
assistant secretary of state
Randall Fort.
The embassy’s report of the
meeting says that ‘‘ONA seniors
and analysts were particularly
interested in A/S Fort and INR’s
assessments on Israeli ‘red lines’
on Iran’s nuclear program and
the likelihood of an Israeli
strike against Iranian nuclear
facilities’’.
An earlier cable, sent in July
2008, records that former prime
minister Kevin Rudd was
‘‘deeply worried’’ that Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadine-
jad’s intransigence concerning
Tehran’s nuclear program meant
that the window for a diplo-
matic solution was closing and
that ‘‘Israel may feel forced to
use ‘non-diplomatic’ means’’.
Last week Mr Rudd called on
Israel to sign the nuclear non-
proliferation treaty as part of a
broader effort to establish the
Middle East as a nuclear-
weapon-free zone.
The US embassy’s March
2009 report told Washington
that the Australian government
was ‘‘more broadly concerned
about the potential for renewed
nuclear proliferation in the Mid-
dle East, driving south-east
Asian states to abandon the
[nuclear non-proliferation
treaty] and pursue their own
nuclear capabilities, which
could introduce a direct threat
to the Australian homeland’’.
Australian intelligence views
on Iran were solicited by US offi-
cials in response to a request
from Washington to ascertain
reactions to the possibility that
the US might seek to discuss
regional security issues with
Tehran.
The US embassy cables con-
firm the presence in Canberra of
Continued PAGE 4
Rudd derided
Ahmadinejad as
‘loathsome’ man
By PHILIP DORLING
ISRAEL’S ambassador to Austra-
lia found Kevin Rudd to be ‘‘very
pro-Israel’’ and senior Austra-
lian diplomats warned the for-
mer prime minister that his
condemnation of Iranian Presi-
dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
risked retaliation against Aus-
tralia’s embassy in Tehran,
according to leaked US diplo-
matic cables.
Classified US cables
obtained by WikiLeaks and
provided exclusively to The Age
reveal that Israeli ambassador
Yuval Rotem was greatly pleased
with Mr Rudd’s ‘‘very support-
ive’’ attitude towards Israel’s
position in the Middle East
peace process and his strident
attacks on the Iranian President.
The revelation of ambas-
sador Rotem’s 2009 description
of Mr Rudd comes as the For-
eign Minister wraps up a visit to
Cairo where he expressed con-
cern that ‘‘no real progress’’ had
been made in the US-brokered
Middle East peace process.
After a weekend meeting
with Egyptian Foreign Minister
Ahmed Abul Gheit, Mr Rudd
said Israeli settlements on
Palestinian land were ‘‘destroy-
ing’’ the chances of peace. He
said he would visit Israel later
this week and would reiterate
his position, but added Israel
had security fears that needed
to be taken into account.
The leaked US embassy
cables reveal that Israeli diplo-
mats saw Mr Rudd as an impor-
tant diplomatic ally, strongly
supportive of Israel’s security
interests.
A highly experienced Israeli
diplomat, ambassador Rotem
told US officials in July 2008 that
during his first meeting with Mr
Rudd after Australia’s 2007 fed-
eral election, the newly elected
prime minister had described
Iranian President Ahmadinejad
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: His intransigence on Tehran’s nuclear program ‘‘deeply worried’’ Kevin Rudd. PICTURE: REUTERS as a ‘‘loathsome individual on
every level’’ and said that the
Kevin Rudd and Israeli
ambassador Yuval Rotem.
Iranian leader’s anti-Semitism
‘‘turns my stomach’’.
The US embassy noted that
while opposition leader, Mr
Rudd had taken a ‘‘very strong
stance’’ on Iran, including call-
ing for Mr Ahmadinejad to be
prosecuted by the International
Criminal Court for his calls for
the destruction of Israel.
‘‘The Israeli ambassador
believes PM Rudd is very con-
cerned about the Iranian nuc-
lear program and firm in his
desire to do whatever possible
to signal Australia’s opposition
to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions,’’
the embassy reported. ‘‘The
Israelis believe Rudd is very firm
in his overall support for Israel.’’
Asked by the US embassy
about whether Mr Rudd’s views
on Iran had elicited any
response, Mr Rotem said the
Iranian government had reacted
to the prime minister’s state-
ments by taking ‘‘retaliatory
measures’’ against the Austra-
lian embassy in Tehran.
‘‘These measures make it
harder for the embassy to con-
duct its day-to-day business,’’
Mr Rotem observed.
The Israeli ambassador
added that the Secretary of the
Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade, Michael l’Estrange,
and Office of National Assess-
ments director-general Peter
Varghese had ‘‘met several times
to convince the PM to think
Continued PAGE 4

Defusing Tehran not as simple as cutting off a snake’s head

WARNIE, HURLEY
THE whispering campaign to
get Shane Warne back into
the Australian Test team as
captain has hit a hurdle — a
purported affair with married
British actress Liz Hurley.
SPORT
THIS stunning insight into key
intelligence judgments about
Iran’s nuclear ambitions
illustrates just how difficult and
dangerous a problem the world
confronts.
Imagine if this type of
information had been made
public before the 2003 invasion
of Iraq, showing people the
assumptions, guesswork and
gaps in knowledge when trying
to assess the weapons program
of another country. Might the
war have been averted?
This is not to diminish Aus-
DANIEL
FLITTON
ANALYSIS
tralia’s intelligence assessments
about Iran, but rather to high-
light the challenges analysts
face when trying to discern facts
in one of the most fiercely
debated issues in global affairs.
A mistaken assumption
either way could result in
another devastating war.
The key point is this: Austra-
lia fears Iran is on the path to
developing a nuclear bomb —
despite the vehement denials of
the regime.
But Australia’s analysts also
dismiss other rhetoric from
Iran, hard words interpreted by
some as a Messianic drive to
dominate the region — and
from Israel’s perspective, to
wipe that country off the map.
Australia sees Iran as a
rational actor caught in its own
security dilemma; a massive US
army to the west in Iraq, another
to the east in Afghanistan, and
implacable hatred of two
nuclear-armed enemies, the US
and Israel.
The solution, as Tehran sees
it, is to obtain a nuclear
deterrence to ensure its survival,
or at least have the material and
technology ready to assemble a
weapon in short time.
This is the question at the
heart of the Iran problem: can
the country be trusted with the
bomb? Only political leaders
can answer that, not intelli-
gence analysts.
But Australia’s best minds
from the intelligence world
believe emotive terms such as
‘‘rogue state’’ are of little help.
There is little wonder the US
sought Australia’s views on Iran.
Australia has an embassy in
Tehran while the US has been
officially locked out of the
country for decades.
But it’s important to
acknowledge that much has
changed in the 20 months or so
since these judgments were
drawn up — and as new facts
arise, opinions may have varied.
The protests in Tehran after
disputed presidential elections
last year may have hardened the
resolve of the regime to build
the bomb.
There was also the surprise
disclosure of an unknown
nuclear facility at Qom, south-
west of the capital, which may
have changed assessments over
how quickly Iran could develop
a nuclear weapon.
Harsh international sanc-
tions under the United Nations
and boycotts by individual
countries have taken a heavy
toll on Iran’s economy, perhaps
changing the regime’s calculus
on the nuclear question.
But we now have a much
better understanding of the
problem. The leaked cables
demonstrate how difficult it is to
assess Iran’s intentions.
Saudi Arabia’s king might
urge the US to ‘‘cut off the head
of the snake’’ in talks about Iran
— but is this an informed view,
or is it driven by sectarian and
ethnic rivalry?
Daniel Flitton is diplomatic editor.

WEATHER MELBOURNE DAMS ODD SPOT INDEX ISSN 0312-6307

MELBOURNE Sunny later 12 — 24 MILDURA Sunny 11 — 26 A thief went into a London jewellers and asked to try ARTS PAGES 14, 15 TRIBUTES PAGE 17
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SALE Early showers 11 — 24
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WODONGA Mainly sunny 11 — 25
Details PAGE 19
48.3
52.9%
AAYEAR
YEARAGO:
AGO:35.3%
38%
on a Rolex watch, then ran out with it leaving behind
his mobile phone. The phone’s screensaver was a
picture of him holding a bunch of watches he had
stolen in previous heists. He was arrested soon after.
COMMENT & DEBATE
EDITORIALS, LETTERS
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MINDGAMES
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WORLD
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METAGE A001
 THE AGE
4 MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2010

THE WIKILEAKS FILES DAY SIX

Frontline Diggers reject Rudd comments and slam WikiLeaks US and NZ
By DAN OAKES alliance
kept secret
MUSAZAI

SOLDIERS on the frontline in Afghanistan have

disputed comments by former prime minister
Kevin Rudd about the progress of the war in WELLINGTON
Afghanistan and criticised WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange for making public secret documents THE United States and New
relating to the war. Zealand ended a near 25-year
Shortly before heading out for an eight-hour break in intelligence collabora-
patrol into hostile territory in the southern tion last year but kept the news
province of Oruzgan, the Diggers said the coalition secret, according to a leaked
effort in Afghanistan was reaping tangible benefits cable published on Sunday.
on the ground, and that it was difficult to gain the The cable from the US
full picture from back in Australia. embassy in Wellington was
‘‘It’s the difference in perspective. With so many included in a package of secret
nations rethinking their commitment here, it can documents released by website
seem like a morass of wicked problems, as opposed WikiLeaks and printed in the
to our perception from the Sunday Star-Times.
ground, where you have tangible Washington imposed strict
outcomes as a result of the work restrictions on the supply of
we’re doing,’’ said Captain Jim intelligence to Wellington in the
Wallace (left). mid-1980s in response to New
Cables published by Zealand’s nuclear-free policy.
WikiLeaks show Kevin Rudd, as But according to a cable sent
prime minister, confirmed to US from the US embassy to US Sec-
congressmen that the Australian retary of State Hillary Clinton in
security establishment was January this year, collaboration
pessimistic about the war, which, he confessed, was ‘‘fully restored’’ in August
‘‘scared the hell’’ out of him. 2009.
Captain Richard Trembath, commander of Mrs Clinton was also warned
Patrol Base Musazai, said the Defence Force, the the news ‘‘should not be
Australian Federal Police and other government acknowledged in public’’.
agencies were doing their best to improve the over- According to the cables, US
all security situation. and New Zealand officials doub-
‘‘It’ll be difficult, for a while yet, but we have to ted that there was public sup-
temper our expectations as Western nations in an port for the closer ties between
eastern nation. But if we’re safer and Afghan people the two countries and preferred
are safer when we leave, that’s a measure of to keep them secret.
success,’’ Captain Trembath said. Of political personalities,
The soldiers were also disgusted by WikiLeaks Prime Minister John Key is
releasing secret cables concerning the wars in described as having a ‘‘strongly
Afghanistan and Iraq, saying there was no doubt personal pro-American out-
they put the lives of Australian soldiers at risk. look’’ while former leader Helen
‘‘The thing I feel strongest about is the safety of Clark was seen as a ‘‘very con-
my soldiers, and if through these leaks even one of trolling manager’’.
them . . . ends up dead because an internet general One leaked cable shows that
back in Australia is releasing this information it former Australian foreign minis-
disgusts me,’’ said Captain Trembath. ter Alexander Downer thought
A man is searched at an Australian and Afghan National Army checkpoint near the patrol base in Musazai in Oruzgan province. PICTURE: ANGELA WYLIE See more pictures from Afghanistan at theage.com.au that New Zealand was a nation
World of small victories PAGE 10 of ‘‘bleeding hearts’’. AFP

Nuclear war: Australia’s Iran fear PM derided ‘loathsome’ Ahmadinejad

From PAGE 1
representatives of all US
national intelligence agencies:
the CIA, the National Security
Agency, the National Reconnais-
sance Office, the National Geo-
spatial Agency, the Defence
Intelligence Agency and the FBI.
US intelligence liaison
officers engaged all their Austra-
lian counterpart agencies on the
Iran question including ONA,
the office of the National Secur-
ity Adviser, the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, the
Australian Secret Intelligence
Service, the Defence Intelli-
gence Organisation, the
Defence Signals Directorate, the
Defence Imagery and Geo-
substantively as a significant US
partner on Iran’’.
US diplomats expressed
‘‘high confidence’’ that the Aus-
tralian government would have
no objections to US efforts to
engage Iran, noting that while
Australian troops remain
stationed in Afghanistan ‘‘the
Australians will look to
increased US engagement with
Iran to improve upon creating a
realistic framework for an accel-
‘ ONA urged a view of
Tehran as a sophisticated
diplomatic player rather
than a ‘‘rogue state’’.
’
exchange in Iran reported ONA
director-general Varghese’s view
that possible conflict between
Israel and Iran ‘‘clearly repre-
sented the greatest challenge to
[Middle East] stability’’.
ONA analysts said the
Iranian government appeared
determined to acquire nuclear
weapons, though this was prob-
ably driven by the desire to
deter Israel and the US rather
than an intention to strike
against other Middle East states.
‘‘ONA viewed Tehran’s nuc-
lear program within the
paradigm of ‘the laws of
deterrence,’ noting that Iran’s
ability to produce a weapon
may be ‘enough’ to meet its
security objectives,’’ the US
alone in this assessment, assert-
ing that ‘‘while China and Russia
remain opposed to it, they view
Iran’s acquisition of nuclear
weapons as inevitable’’.
However, ONA urged a bal-
anced view of Tehran as a soph-
isticated diplomatic player
rather than a ‘‘rogue state’’ liable
to behave impulsively or irra-
tionally.
Mr Varghese said ONA was
telling the Australian govern-
ment: ‘‘It’s a mistake to think of
Iran as a ‘rogue state’.’’
The embassy cable reported:
‘‘ONA analysts assessed that
Tehran ‘knows’ about its lack of
certain capabilities, but plays
‘beyond its hand’ very skilfully
. . . ONA judged that Iran’s activ-
From PAGE 1
through the consequences of his
rhetoric on Iran’’.
The Australian government
has never acknowledged pub-
licly any Iranian response to Mr
Rudd’s public criticism of Iran
and its president.
Ambassador Rotem went on
to tell the US embassy that Israel
saw Australia ‘‘as playing an
important role in the ‘global PR
battle’ on Iran because PM Rudd
is viewed favourably by the
‘European left’, many of whom
are sceptical about taking a
tough line towards Tehran.’’
‘‘Rotem said
embassies in Europe have
Israeli
have been concerned at the
prospect of an Australian Labor
government: ‘‘However, this was
not the case because Rudd had
long gone out of his way to
stress his strong commitment to
Israel and appreciation for its
security concerns. Rotem said
that he has had excellent access
to Rudd and noted that the PM
has taken a strong interest in
even minor issues involving
Israel.
‘‘Commenting that DFAT
officials are very frank in
expressing their annoyance with
the PM’s micromanaging of
foreign policy issues, Rotem
Gillard, who has taken the lead
in co-ordinating the [Australian
government] public and private
response to the Gaza fighting.
Rotem said that Gillard and
[National Security Adviser
Duncan] Lewis have been very
understanding of Israel’s mili-
tary action, while stressing the
need to minimise civilian casu-
alties and address humanitarian
concerns.’’
Mr Rotem added that Ms Gil-
‘ Ambassador Rotem added
that he would be ‘‘playing
senior Labor Party contacts had
told him privately that Rudd had
been ‘‘a bit jealous of the atten-
tion garnered by Gillard’’ and
that this led him to speak to the
Gaza issue later in January 2009.
Ambassador Rotem added that
he would be ‘‘playing to Rudd’s
vanity’’ to encourage him to pay
an early visit to Israel and con-
tinue to speak out in support of
a hard line against Iran’s nuclear
ambitions.
In other leaked US cables,
Australian diplomats are repor-
ted as telling their US counter-
parts that the Australian
government was ‘‘completely

reported that Rudd’s policies are

spatial Organisation, the
Defence Science and Techno-
logy Organisation, and the Aus-
tralian Security Intelligence
Organisation.
In its July 2009 report to
Washington, the embassy noted
that the Australian intelligence
community had ‘‘increased its
collection and analytic efforts
on Iran over the past decade,
demonstrating Australia’s stra-
tegic commitment to engage
erated reduction and eventual
cessation of Iranian support to
the Taliban, al-Qaeda and
related groups, and Hezbollah.
Simultaneously, Australia will
look for increased US-Iranian
engagement to lead to a more
stable governance environment
for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq,
and the Levant.’’
The US embassy’s cable on
the December 2008 intelligence
embassy reported.
‘‘Nevertheless, Australian
intelligence viewed Tehran’s
pursuit of full self-sufficiency in
the nuclear fuel cycle, long-
standing covert weapons pro-
gram, and continued work on
delivery systems as strong indic-
ators that Tehran’s preferred end
state included a nuclear
arsenal.’’
ONA analysts told their US
counterparts they were not
ities in Iraq — both overt and
covert — represented an
extreme manifestation of Ira-
nian strategic calculus, designed
to ‘outflank’ the US in the
region.’’
However the Australian intel-
ligence analysts ‘‘asserted that
. . . the most effective means by
which Tehran could ensure its
national security would be a
strategic relationship with the
US via some ‘grand bargain’.’’
receiving a surprising amount
of attention, particularly
because of his withdrawal of
Australian troops from Iraq,’’ the
embassy reported to Washing-
ton. ‘‘The Israelis hope that
Rudd’s position on Iran may
help persuade sceptical Euro-
peans, as well as help reinforce
the need for a tough line on Iran
by other countries.’’
The ambassador added that
Israeli officials would normally
laughingly said that ‘while I
understand their point of view,
how can I complain about hav-
ing that kind of attention from
the PM’.’’
The Israeli ambassador’s
enthusiasm for the Labor gov-
ernment extended to deputy
prime minister Julia Gillard,
with the US embassy reporting
in January 2009 that Mr Rotem
was ‘‘very satisfied’’ with the
Australian response to Israel’s
military offensive in Gaza.
‘‘Rotem said he had been
impressed with Acting PM Julia
to Rudd’s vanity’’.
’
lard’s statements surprised
many Israeli embassy contacts
as being ‘‘far more supportive
than they had expected’’.
‘‘Israeli officials were
impressed with Gillard’s per-
formance during a January 2 call
with [Israeli] PM Ehud Olmert,
he said, commenting that this
was a relief because it had been
very difficult to persuade
Olmert to make the call.’’
Ambassador Rotem told his
US counterparts that several
aligned’’ with the United States
in regard to Iran.
In a meeting with US diplo-
mats in October 2009, First
Assistant Secretary Patrick Suck-
ling and then assistant secret-
ary, now Australian ambassador
to Israel, Andrea Faulkner, said
Australia ‘‘fully supports US
efforts to engage with Iran’’ but
expressed ‘‘deep official scepti-
cism’’ about the prospects for
diplomatic progress. Mr Suck-
ling said: ‘‘Australia wants the
most robust, intrusive and
debilitating sanctions possible.’’

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL APPLICANTS UNDER

THE WESTFIELD RETAIL TRUST OFFER
The Westfield Retail Trust Offer closed on
Monday, 6 December 2010. The total value
of the stapled units allocated under the Offer
was $2.05 billion at the Offer Price of $2.75
per stapled unit (comprising approximately
746 million stapled units).
Holding statements
Dispatch of holding statements to successful applicants is expected to
occur by Wednesday, 22 December 2010.
Conditional and deferred settlement trading of
stapled units on ASX
Westfield Retail Trust stapled units are expected to commence trading
on ASX on Monday, 13 December 2010 at 12:00pm (Sydney time) on a
conditional and deferred settlement basis, under the ASX code “WRT”.
It is expected that conditional trading will continue until Westfield Retail
Trust has advised ASX that allotment has occurred, which is scheduled
to be on Tuesday, 21 December 2010. Trades occurring on ASX before
satisfaction or completion of the conditions will be conditional on such
satisfaction or completion occurring.
After the end of conditional trading, it is expected that there will be a
period of deferred settlement trading on Wednesday, 22 December 2010,
being the day on which dispatch of CHESS allotment notices and issuer
sponsored holding statements is expected to occur.
Trading on a normal settlement basis is expected to commence on
Thursday, 23 December 2010. The settlement of all trades executed
on or before 23 December 2010 will occur on 30 December 2010.
Allocation policy
Public Offer: Retail investors have been allocated 100% of the stapled
units for which they applied. Successful institutional investors will be
advised of their allocations by the Joint Lead Managers.
Westfield Securityholder Offer: Eligible Westfield Securityholders who
submitted valid applications for all or part of their entitlement have been
allocated 100% of the stapled units for which they applied. Eligible Retail
Westfield Securityholders who applied for more than their entitlement
have also been allocated 100% of the stapled units for which they applied.1
Eligible Institutional Westfield Securityholders who applied for stapled
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Determining your allocation
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before receiving your holding statement, you may do so by calling
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between 8:30am and 5:00pm (Sydney time) Monday to Friday.
Capital Distribution
If you are a Westfield Group securityholder and wish to know details of
the number of Westfield Retail Trust stapled units you will be transferred
under the Capital Distribution, you can call 1300 730 458 (within
Australia) or +61 3 9946 4471 (outside Australia) between 8:30am and
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All applicants and Westfield Group securityholders are responsible for
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1
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as applications under the Public Offer.

METAGE A004
 2010
PUBLISHED IN MELBOURNE SINCE 1854
Backflip
defuses
equal
pay row
EXCLUSIVE
By KIRSTY NEEDHAM
SOCIAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
THE federal government has
bowed to union and community
sector anger and signed back on
to support equal pay for women.
A letter by Workplace Minis-
ter Chris Evans has changed a
government submission to the
equal pay test case being heard
by Fair Work Australia.
A dispute erupted in the final
sitting week of Parliament as
unions and the Australian Coun-
cil of Social Services accused the
government of abandoning a
deal to support the case covering
153,000, mostly female,
community-sector workers.
The commonwealth provides
half the sector’s funding, and its
original submission had said
any pay rise awarded by the
tribunal would lead to cuts to
other government services,
because it needed to bring the
budget back to surplus.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard
took personal offence at the
ensuing backlash and ordered
the problem be fixed.
The letter by Mr Evans states:
‘‘The submission does not assert
that Fair Work Australia should
not award or discount equal
remuneration because of the
potential impact on the com-
monwealth.’’
The letter to the Australian
Services Union, signed on Mon-
day, can be tabled as evidence. It
changes five issues that had
upset the sector, including:
■ Recognising salary sacrifice
deals, commonly used by chari-
ties that run homelessness, dis-
ability, family and crisis centres,
do little to help low-paid women.
■ Rejecting an argument pushed
by the Australian Industry Group
that sector wages should be lifted
through workplace bargaining,
not a gender case.
‘‘The government submission
does not argue that collective
bargaining and productivity
improvements are the solution to
low wages. We recognise that
collective bargaining is not
always a means to rectifying
entrenched pay equity differen-
tials,’’ the letter says.
Community sector workers in
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and
Tasmania will march today in
support of the case.
Unions say the letter was cru-
cial to stop the government’s ori-
ginal submission being used to
undermine the case.
ASU Victorian branch assist-
ant secretary Lisa Darmanin said
the letter met the spirit of a
heads-of-agreement Ms Gillard
signed last year.
‘‘We think this letter provides
the follow-through and the sup-
port that we need,’’ she said.
Community workers will
march on State Parliament today
to seek assurances from Premier
Ted Baillieu that the state govern-
ment would also meet the full
cost of the equal pay case
E-POLL
Should the government back equal
pay even if it endangers the budget
surplus? Vote theage.com.au
WEATHER
MELBOURNE Partly cloudy 12 — 23
BALLARAT Shower or two 16 — 24
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GEELONG Showers
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VCE HIGH ACHIEVERS
OUR TOP STUDENTS
Terror groups ‘broken’
A soldier conducts a search while on patrol this week in Oruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan, where Australian troops are working with soldiers of the Afghan National Army.
Upbeat report to US
says al-Qaeda has failed
By PHILIP DORLING
A SECRET Australian intelli-
gence assessment has declared
the al-Qaeda terrorist network a
failure and claims its regional
offshoot, Jemaah Islamiyah, has
been broken in Indonesia.
The head of Australia’s top
intelligence agency, the Office
of National Assessments, told
American diplomats in October
2008 that al-Qaeda “ultimately
has failed to achieve the stra-
tegic leadership role it sought
within the Islamic world’’.
The assessment undercuts a
key argument of the Gillard gov-
ernment to justify Australia’s
continued commitment to the
Philippines a ‘basket case’ and Timor a ‘burden’
By PHILIP DORLING
AUSTRALIA’S top diplomats
consider our neighbourhood
deeply troubled. They describe
China’s leadership as ‘‘nervous,
paranoid and uncertain’’ but
“running rings’’ around Japan.
Thailand is unstable, the Philip-
pines a “basket case” and East
Timor a “burden”.
The candid judgments of
some of Australia’s most senior
and experienced diplomats are
contained in the United States’
record of the secret Australia-
MILDURA Showers
17 — 27
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WARRNAMBOOL Showers 17 — 21
WODONGA Storms
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THE WIKILEAKS FILES: DAY 8
TERRORISM & THE REGION
war in Afghanistan — that al-
Qaeda could return to use the
country as a terrorist training
ground.
Australian intelligence officers
instead blamed Taliban success
in Afghanistan on the failings of
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s
government and on the murky
involvement of Pakistan’s intelli-
gence and security services.
Pressed by the US diplomats
for an overall assessment of
Islamist terrorist threats, then
Office of National Assessments
director-general Peter Varghese
gave a strongly up-beat view. He
told the visiting head of the US
State Department’s Bureau of
Intelligence and Research,
US political-military talks held
between senior officials of both
countries in Canberra in Octo-
ber 2008.
Foreign Affairs Department
deputy secretary David Richie
warned that Australia faced a
‘‘troubled neighbourhood . . .
including an increase in illegal
immigration from Indonesia . . .
continuing political instability
in Thailand; the ‘basket case’ of
the Philippines; the continuing
‘burden’ of providing security
and development assistance to
East Timor; problems of bad
MELBOURNE DAMS
20 — 29
15 — 31
17 — 31
48.3
53%%
AAYEAR
YEARAGO:
AGO:35.3%
38%
WHO GOT THE
BEST MARKS IN
EVERY SUBJECT
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2010
As events unfold in the
years ahead, these cables
will provide crucial back-
ground that people will
return to and judge what
political leaders have to say.
DANIEL FLITTON PAGE 17
Defence can do better: Smith PAGE 6
COMMENT & DEBATE
Cameron Forbes PAGE 17
Randall Fort, that terrorism was ambivalent on the issues of
“a good news story that is get- counter-terrorism and counter-
ting better, with the violent insurgency, reiterating that
Islamist threat receding’’. India remains the core mission
The US embassy in Canberra and priority of the Pakistan
reported Mr Varghese “com- defence and intelligence estab-
mented that in personal meet- lishment.
ings and intelligence exchanges “ONA assesses that Pakistan’s
with ONA and other Australian military and security elite view
services, Pakistani [defence this as ‘an American war’, which,
chief ] General [Ashfaq] Kayani combined with a very hard
continually comes across as sense of anti-Americanism,
governance in many of the the reins to one of his hand-
Pacific Island states’’. picked successors,’’ Mr Fletcher
The US record of the secret forecast. “While China might
discussions, chaired by Mr Ric- look impressive externally, its
hie and US assistant secretary of internal politics were character-
state Mark Kimmitt, has been ised by nervousness, paranoia
provided exclusively to The Age and uncertainty. Nonetheless,
by WikiLeaks. there were no major challenges
During the exchange, the to the ruling elite in the near
department’s first assistant sec- term.’’
retary for north Asia, Graham A senior US defence official
Fletcher, gave a broad political for east Asia, David Sedney, said
overview of China. that the US analysis matched
“The elite, led by Hu Jintao, Australia’s view that there was
likely would retain control until no threat to China’s rulers.
2012, when Hu would turn over “[Sedney] noted that the
ODD SPOT
James Byron Birkhead of Owensboro, Kentucky, has
pleaded guilty to making bombs, but claims he only did so
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combines into a very dangerous
cocktail,’’ Mr Varghese was
reported to have told his Amer-
ican colleagues.
Mr Varghese said develop-
ments were especially positive
in Australia’s region, where “the
growth of Islamic extremism-
based movements is con-
strained, thanks in part to ongo-
ing successes in combined
counter-terrorism efforts, but
more because of societal factors
in south-east Asia that reject the
Middle Eastern jihadist model.’’
But the secret US embassy
cable, leaked to WikiLeaks and
provided exclusively to The Age,
warned that the southern Phil-
ippines was emerging as a new
terrorist haven.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard
told Parliament on October 19,
during the debate on Australia’s
military deployment, that it was
a vital “to make sure that
Afghanistan never again
Chinese leadership was
absorbed with domestic stabil-
ity, and, while China had
achieved success in achieving
economic and political stability,
there were cracks in the facade.’’
The department’s then
senior official for south-east
Asia, Peter Woolcott, described
the political situation in many
countries in Australia’s neigh-
bourhood as ‘‘messy’’, and cited
“significant problems in the
Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia,
Vietnam and Burma’’.
“The situation in Indonesia
INDEX
ARTS PAGES 18, 19
CLASSIFIEDS BUSINESSDAY 13-15
COMMENT & DEBATE
EDITORIALS, LETTERS
FOCUS
PAGE 17
PAGE 16
PAGE 15
The terms ‘Zip’ and
‘HydroTap’ are trade marks.
PICTURE: ANGELA WYLIE
becomes a safe haven for al-
Qaeda’’ and that Osama bin
Laden’s group remained “a resi-
lient and persistent network’’.
Ms Gillard also warned of
past links between al-Qaeda and
extremists in Indonesia.
But the US record of the
high-level intelligence exchange
states: “Varghese and his ana-
lysts assessed that Indonesia
Islam was ‘returning to its main
course following a detour’
driven by personal linkages to
the global jihad that were
formed in Afghanistan in the
1980s.’’
“ONA analysts assess ‘the
tide has turned’ on Jemaah Isla-
miyah (JI) in Indonesia, noting
that its leadership has been dev-
astated — with most seniors
killed, captured, or on the run-
and that it has lost its local sup-
port networks and funding,’’ the
US embassy reported to
Continued PAGE 6
— Australia’s most important
regional partner — was ‘as good
as it gets’,’’ Mr Woolcott said.
“[President] Yudhoyono . . .
whom Australia wanted to see
re-elected, had provided first
class co-operation on counter-
terrorism.’’
Mr Woolcott described
China’s diplomatic efforts in
south-east Asia as ‘‘impressive’’,
adding that “while most coun-
tries wanted a US presence as a
hedge, they were comfortable
with China’s approach’’.
Continued PAGE 6
MINDGAMES PAGE 22
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TELEVISION
WORLD
PAGE 21
BUSINESSDAY 10-12
PAGE 23
PAGES 12-14
WEATHER
A few showers
with possible
storms.
20-30
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$1.50 GST
INC
Property
chiefs
warn of
units glut
By MARIKA DOBBIN
THOUSANDS of off-the-plan
apartment buyers could face
losses as a glut forces many Mel-
bourne projects into limbo.
Two major property players
have broken industry ranks to
warn buyers about an oversup-
ply of poorly located apartments
in the development pipeline
aimed at property investors.
Rob Pradolin, general man-
ager of developer Australand,
which has $400 million in pro-
jects under way in Victoria, pre-
dicted that 30 to 40 per cent of
apartment projects currently
advertised for Melbourne would
not go ahead.
‘‘All those people who have
paid deposits are locked in and
can’t pull their money out until
the sunset clause in the contract
expires in three, four and some-
times five years’ time,’’ he said.
Mr Pradolin predicted banks
would control the market by
confining lending for construc-
tion work to less risky develop-
ments in prime locations.
His comments come less
than a fortnight after Melbourne
property stalwart Max Beck,
who founded Becton Property
Group, warned in The Austra-
lian Financial Review of a
potential slump in apartment
values if the banks funded all
the ‘‘mega-projects’’ proposed.
Proposals for 33,451 new
apartments in 293 Melbourne
buildings are now being advert-
ised to buyers. The figure has
leapt from 18,585 apartments in
June 2008, according to research
by property agency Oliver Hume.
The surge is a boon for the
more than 500 real estate agents
spruiking apartment develop-
ments to local, interstate and
international property investors.
However, just 13 per cent of pro-
jects launched in the past two
years have started construction,
a report by Oliver Hume
showed.
Competition between pro-
jects for buyers, combined with
stricter laws for foreign property
investors, a slow-down in
migration levels and the
strength of the Australian dollar
have resulted in disappointing
off-the-plan sales for many of
the developments.
Freehills property partner
David Sinn said major banks
were worried about a potential
oversupply in Melbourne and
looking to reduce their expos-
ures by taking a hard line on
lending to start construction.
Banks were shying away
from projects where developers
had little equity to put in or
where off-the-plan sales had
been largely to overseas buyers.
‘‘The sheer volume of pro-
jects trying to get up at the
moment is amazing and there is
only a certain pool of money
available,’’ he said. ‘‘The pool is
insufficient to service all those
projects.’’
Mr Sinn said most banks were
now refusing to lend to indi-
vidual buyers for inner-city
apartments. Buyers who had
paid deposits could do nothing
but wait their contracts out.
Continued PAGE 2
ISSN 0312-6307
9 770312 630035
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ZIPHT1208/381x70
METAGE A001
 THE AGE
6 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2010
US grand jury ‘pursuing Assange’
Mother critical of PM’s response
By PAOLA TOTARO
LONDON
WIKILEAKS founder Julian
Assange arrived in Westminster
magistrates court in a prison
van five hours before he was due
to appear yesterday to plea for
bail.
Mr Assange was greeted by
50-metre queues of media and
supporters who waited for
hours outside the court in freez-
ing temperatures.
His mother Christine arrived
from Australia to support her
son at his court appearance and
visited him in his jail cell at
Wandsworth.
‘‘I told him how people all
over the world in all sorts of
countries are standing up with
Assange’s mother Christine.
placards and screaming out for
his freedom and justice and he
was very heartened by that,’’ she
said.
Earlier, she blasted the Gil-
lard government. ‘‘There’s Julia
Gillard opening for Oprah and
my Julian is sitting here in
prison. Is it more important to
suck up to the Yanks than to
look after your own people?’’
Mr Assange, 39, was to try to
win bail against extradition pro-
ceedings by Sweden relating to
sex crime charges.
Mark Stephens, the lawyer
for Mr Assange in his first
appearance last week, said his
client would offer to wear the
electronic device to reassure
authorities he was not a flight
risk.
The tactic emerged as Mr
Stephens told broadcaster al-
Jazeera that a secret US grand
jury has been set up in Virginia
Terror groups broken, Canberra tells Washington
From PAGE 1
Washington. “ONA judged JI
was shifting near-term goals to
its local, vice global/anti-
western interests while other-
wise ‘creeping back to the shad-
ows’ and focusing on survival.’’
Australian intelligence ana-
lysts proffered the view that JI
could “endure and regenerate
over the long term’’, but that it
would be “a more localised ter-
rorist threat’’, one cable said.
Philippines a ‘basket case’ and Timor a ‘burden’
From PAGE 1
‘‘Japan’s presence, by contrast,
hardly registered, in part
because it declined to invest
political resources, such as visits
by senior officials,’’ Mr Woolcott
said. At this point Mr Fletcher
interjected, saying the Chinese
were ‘‘running rings around
Japan’’ in south-east Asia.
Mr Ritchie suggested that
Japan was hampered by the leg-
acy of World War II.
METAGE A006
in the United States to work on
charges that could be filed
against Mr Assange.
Citing unnamed Swedish
authorities, he said there had
been a secretly empanelled
grand jury in Alexandria, Vir-
ginia, just outside Washington.
Mr Stephens appealed for
fairness, stressing that Mr
Assange’s second hearing was
not about WikiLeaks and the
publications of sensitive US dip-
lomatic cables but about a bail
hearing.
‘‘This is the curious case of
WikiLeaks, and it clearly has a
bearing on the way in which
cases are dealt with,’’ he said.
‘‘But I hope the British judi-
ciary have the spine to deal with
him independently.’’
Mr Assange turned himself
in to police last week after Swed-
ish prosecutors issued a warrant
on one count of unlawful coer-
cion, two of sexual molestation
and one count of rape allegedly
committed in August.
He was denied bail then but
the magistrate, Howard Riddle,
signalled that the case was a
complex one and he wanted to
see further information and
evidence on the Swedish case.
Mr Stephens said the
chances of Mr Assange running
away were rare, given that he
was ‘‘the most recognisable
person on the planet’’ at the
moment.
He said he was hoping his
client would be granted bail but
appeared to suggest that fight-
ing the extradition might be
more difficult.
The extradition battle, to be
fought through all levels of the
British courts, will be led by Aus-
tralian QC Geoffrey Robertson.
In the meantime, Mr Ste-
phens said Mr Assange had not
been given any of his mail since
he was jailed, and even his legal
letters failed to reach him.
He was on 231⁄2-hours-a-day
‘‘lock-down’’ at Wandsworth in
south-west London, taking his
meals in his cell.
He was kept under surveil-
lance on infrared video. With PA
This latest disclosure comes
after former JI leader Abu Bakar
Bashir was yesterday committed
for trial in Indonesia on terror-
ism charges
Bashir, convicted of conspir-
acy in the 2002 Bali bombing
but acquitted on appeal, has
been charged as the alleged
inspiration of, and fund-raiser
for, an Islamic militant training
camp in Aceh that was broken
up in February.
The leaked US cables also
Australian Defence Depart-
ment deputy secretary Stephen
Merchant agreed, observing
that ‘‘Japan lacked the capacity
to deliver, despite having some
forward-leaning senior offi-
cials’’.
Dissatisfaction with Japan’s
performance also featured in
discussions between US under-
secretary of state Bill Burns and
Department of Foreign Affairs
secretary Michael L’Estrange in
Canberra in April 2009.
THE WIKILEAKS FILES
Julian Assange arrives in the back of a police vehicle at a London magistrates court for his second bail hearing.
reveal that ONA considered
Indonesia’s counter-terrorism
successes to be “a study in con-
trast” to “the ongoing down-
ward slide in the Philippines,
where the collapse of the peace
process in the south threatened
to make this area ‘the new
regional incubator of terrorist
jihadis’.’’
The US embassy reported
that “ONA terrorism specialists
noted signals and human intel-
ligence that JI ‘structuralists’
The leaked US record of the
discussion notes Mr L’Estrange
‘‘expressed frustration at the dif-
ficulties Australia had experi-
enced getting Japan to co-
operate on counterterrorism’’
partly because of ‘‘the constant
turnover of ministers in Japan’’.
But when both Mr Burns and
Mr L’Estrange were joined by
Japanese deputy foreign minis-
ter Kenchiro Sasae at a later
meeting, both avoided criticism
of Japanese diplomacy while the
embedded with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front were
rethinking plans to return to
Indonesia, while JI ‘freelancers’
were becoming more active and
better linked with Abu Sayyaf
Group operatives.’’
According to the US diplo-
matic reporting, the Office of
National Assessments believed
the southern Philippines
increasingly contained ‘‘all the
ingredients’’ of al-Qaeda’s
‘‘favoured tilling ground’’.
Australian and Japanese repre-
sentatives ‘‘lauded’’ President
Barack Obama’s stewardship of
the war in Afghanistan.
All sides agreed that control
of the Pakistan-Afghan border
was the key. In a comment that
reflected analysis from the
Office of National Assessments,
Mr L’Estrange said Pakistan’s
Inter-Services Intelligence
Agency was ‘‘a complex hydra
that was playing both ends
against the middle’’.
Protesters condemn Gillard
By JARED LYNCH
SUPPORTERS of Julian Assange
last night vowed to rally in their
hundreds in Melbourne’s CBD
each week until the WikiLeaks
founder is freed.
At least 300 people rallied
outside the State Library last
night. The protesters created
gridlock during peak hour,
marching from Swanston Street
to the British Consulate on Col-
lins Street, where mounted
police were waiting.
Mr Assange’s Australian law-
yer, Rob Stary, said he believed
there had been a grand jury
indictment in the US to charge
Mr Assange with espionage. He
said the charges were unlikely to
stand up and were bullying by
the US.
Melbourne Greens MP Adam
Bandt said the government’s
handling of the issue was a
disgrace. He said he was worried
about an increasing trend
among Australian governments
to abandon the law whenever
they were embarrassed. ‘‘We
saw it with David Hicks under
the Howard government and we
DAY 8
PICTURE: AFP
Pro-WikiLeaks protesters in Melbourne last night.
are seeing it with Julian Assange
under the Gillard government,’’
Mr Bandt told The Age.
Meanwhile, a Lowy Institute
foreign policy expert has
warned that the episode will
harm US President Barack
Obama and is bad for the Gillard
government.
Rory Medcalf said the leaks
would do more harm to Wash-
ington and its democratic allies
in Asia and Europe than to
authoritarian-leaning powers.
Editors lambast
government bid to
stifle information
By MICHELLE GRATTAN
WIKILEAKS is doing what the
media have always done, bring-
ing to light material govern-
ments would prefer to keep
secret, newspaper editors and
other media figures say in an
open letter to Prime Minister
Julia Gillard.
They say the reaction of the
Australian and US governments
is deeply troubling and there is
no evidence Julian Assange and
WikiLeaks have broken Austra-
lian law.
The letter says Ms Gillard has
condemned WikiLeaks’ action as
‘‘illegal’’, but so far it ‘‘has been
able to point to no Australian
law that has been breached’’.
‘‘The leaking and publication
of diplomatic correspondence is
not new. We, as editors and news
directors of major media organ-
isations, believe the reaction of
the US and Australian govern-
ments to date has been deeply
troubling,’’ they say. ‘‘We will
strongly resist any attempts to
make the publication of these or
similar documents illegal.
‘‘Any such action would
impact not only on WikiLeaks,
but every media organisation in
the world that aims to inform
the public about decisions made
on their behalf. WikiLeaks, just
four years old, is part of the
media and deserves our sup-
port.’’
The signatories say they do
not support the publication of
material that threatens national
security or puts lives in danger.
‘‘Those judgments are never
easy, but there has been no evid-
ence to date that the WikiLeaks
material has done either,’’ they
say.
To prosecute an organisation
for publishing a leak would be
unprecedented in the US, and in
Australia it would seriously curtail
reporting on subjects the govern-
ment decides are against its
interests, the letter says.
‘‘To aggressively attempt to
shut WikiLeaks down, to threaten
PICTURE: JOE ARMAO
‘‘It will weaken the US and its
allies in their ability to . . . trust
one another,’’ he said.
‘‘WikiLeaks and its supporters
are further damaging the most
internationalist US adminis-
tration they will see in their life-
times . . . [It] is fanning patriotic
anger in America and this will
translate into political capital
for the Republican right.’’
The revelations in The Age
‘‘will carve fresh rifts and reopen
old ones’’. With MICHELLE GRATTAN
Defence must
do better: Smith
DEFENCE Minister Stephen Smith
has conceded his department and
the government must get better
value for the big spending on
military hardware.
Progress had been made, ‘‘but
we have a long way to go’’, he told
a news conference.
A US embassy cable raised
doubts about Australia’s ability to
pay for the ambitious program in
the 2009 Defence white paper. Mr
Smith said former defence minister
Joel Fitzgibbon had done a good
job ‘‘in trying to put Defence in a
framework of rigour’’.
In the past, Australia had had
‘‘very bad experiences’’ with major
defence projects, and the Labor
government had taken measures to
deal with this.
‘‘But I’ve made it . . . very clear
recently that much more effort is
required on this front,’’ Mr Smith
said.
He said any major procurement
was a high-risk challenge, dealing
with fast-moving technological
change. ‘‘So there are always
challenges in Defence procurement
issues, but I think that Defence, the
Australian government and
Australia can do much better.
MICHELLE GRATTAN
to prosecute those who publish
official leaks, and to pressure
companies to cease doing com-
mercial business with WikiLeaks
is a serious threat to democracy,
which relies on a free and fearless
press.’’
Among the signatories are
Paul Ramadge, The Age editor-in-
chief; Gay Alcorn, editor of The
Sunday Age; Peter Fray, The
Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-
chief; Simon Pristel, editor of the
Herald Sun; Garry Linnell, editor
of the Daily Telegraph; Eric Bee-
cher, chairman of Crikey and Kate
Torney, ABC director of news.
Suspect is
dubbed hero
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
THE US Army private suspected
of giving a mountain of secret
data to WikiLeaks may be
crowned a hero in the California
city known for hippies and anti-
war protests.
Berkeley City Council mem-
bers were to vote yesterday on a
resolution proclaiming Bradley
Manning a hero and urging mil-
itary officials to release him.
‘‘Blowing the whistle on war
crimes is not a crime,’’ read a
resolution endorsed by the city’s
peace and justice commission.
‘‘If Pfc Bradley Manning is
the source who provided
WikiLeaks with the ‘Collateral
Murder’ video and/or the 92,000
documents known as ‘The
Afghan War Diary’, he is a hero.’’
The WikiLeaks website has
yet to reveal how it obtained
hundreds of thousands of secret
documents in recent months,
including more than 250,000
diplomatic cables. But suspi-
cions have centred on 23-year-
old Manning. AFP