Origins of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security
Creators: name: Coventry, CJ
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: ASIO
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security
RCIS
First Hope Commission
Hope Commission
Whitlam Government
Gough Whitlam
Lionel Murphy
Justice Robert Hope
Murphy raids
Official History of ASIO

description: This thesis explores the context in which the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, 1974-1977 came to be. The Whitlam Government wanted to reform the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) so as to depoliticise it and make it more effective in combating genuine threats to the state, including global terrorism. In early 1973 the government's reform was stalled as a result of the attorney-general's raid on ASIO offices. The Prime Minister announced in late 1973 that an inquiry into ASIO would arise at some point. The Australian Labor Party took the idea of a judicial inquiry into Australia's intelligence and security apparatus to the 1974 election. Within weeks of returning to office the Whitlam Government decided to launch the Royal Commission. Even by the time of the government's dismissal in 1975 the process of ASIO's reform was advanced. The decision to keep ASIO was made by Labor prior to the 1972 election. This was despite experiencing two decades of ASIO's ideological partisanship, which had consequences for Labor. But the party's decision was not inconsistent with its history, having been an anti-communist party from the 1920s and responsible for ASIO's creation in 1949. The Royal Commission's terms of reference ensured that an intelligence apparatus would continue to be available to the Commonwealth. The decision to erect the Royal Commission was also widely supported by major Australian newspapers. When the Royal Commission finished in 1977 a lasting bipartisan consensus on ASIO was emerging.
description: {"references": ["Alston, Richard. \"National Security Controls on Information and Communication in Australia.\" Government Information Quarterly 4, no. 1 (1987): 29-41.", "Amos, Keith. The New Guard Movement, 1931-1935. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976.", "Appleby, Gabrielle. \"The Gavan Duffy Court,\" in The High Court, the Constitution and Australian Politics, edited by Rosalind Dixon and George Williams. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2015.", "Battin, Tim. Abandoning Keynes: Australia's capital mistake. London: MacMillan Press, 1997.", "Beilharz, Peter. Transforming Labor: Labour tradition and the Labor decade in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.", "Benvenuti, Andrea &amp; Jones, David Martin. \"Engaging Southeast Asia? Labor's regional mythology and Australia's military withdrawal from Singapore and Malaysia, 1972-1973.\" Journal of Cold War Studies 12, no. 4 (2010).", "Blackstock, Nelson. COINTELPRO: The FBI's secret war on political freedom. New York: Pathfinder, 1988.", "Blaxland, John. The Protest Years. Edited by David Horner. Vol. 2 of The Official History of ASIO, edited by David Horner. Sydney: Allen &amp; Unwin, 2015.", "Bolton, Geoffrey. The Middle Way 1942-1995, vol. 5 of The Oxford History of Australia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1996.", "Brunatti, Andrew D. \"The Architecture of Community: Intelligence Community Management in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.\" Public Policy and Administration 28, no. 2 (2012): 119-143.", "Burgmann, Meredith ed. Dirty Secrets: Our ASIO files. Sydney: NewSouth, 2014.", "Calcutt, Bill. \"The Role of Intelligence in Shaping Public Perceptions of Terrorism,\" Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism 3, no. 1 (2008).", "Chomsky, Noam. Failed States: The abuse of power and the assault on democracy. Sydney: Allen &amp; Unwin, 2006.", "Chomsky, Noam &amp; Barsamian, David. Power Systems. London: Penguin Books, 2013.", "Crowley, F. K. A New History of Australia. Melbourne: William Heinemann, 1974.", "Curran, James. Unholy Fury: Whitlam and Nixon at war. Melbourne University Press: Melbourne, 2015.", "Davidson, Alastair. The Communist Party of Australia: a short history. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1969.", "Dyrenfurth, Nick &amp; Bongiorno, Frank. A Little History of the Australian Labor Party. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2011.", "Edwards, Peter. A Nation at War: Australian politics, society and diplomacy during the Vietnam War 1965-1975. Sydney: Allen &amp; Unwin, 1997.", "Ebbels, R. N. The Australian Labor Movement 1850-1907. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 1965.", "Evans, Raymond. The Red Flag Riots; A study in intolerance. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1988.", "Finnane, Mark. \"The Public Rhetoric of Policing in Times of War and Violence: Countering Apocalyptic Visions.\" Crime, Law and Social Change 50 (2008): 7- 24.", "Freedman, Lawrence. \"The First Two Generations of Nuclear Strategists\" in Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the nuclear age, edited by Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.", "Greenwood, Gordon. Australia: A social and political history. Sydney: Angus &amp; Robertson, 1955.", "Griffin-Foley, Bridget, ed., A Companion to the Australian Media. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2014.", "Harvey, Nick, et al. A History of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Adelaide 1876-2012. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press, 2012.", "Herman, Edward S. and Chomsky, Noam. Manufacturing Consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books, 2002.", "Hetherington, John. Blamey, Controversial Soldier: A biography of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey. Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1973.", "Hocking, Jenny. \"ASIO and the Security State: A Reply to Frank Cain,\" Labour History 60 (1991): 125-128.", "Hocking, Jenny. \"Charting Political Space: Surveillance and the Rule of Law.\" Social Justice 21, no. 4 (1994): 66-82.", "Hocking, Jenny. His Time. Vol. 2 of Gough Whitlam. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 2014.", "Hocking, Jenny. \"Subversions Dissent: Where ASIO Draws the Line,\" Australian Left Review 3 (1984): 38-45.", "Hocking, Jenny. Terror Laws: ASIO, Counter Terrorism and the Threat to Democracy. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2004.", "Horner, David. The Spy Catchers. Vol. 1 of The Official History of ASIO Sydney: Allen &amp; Unwin: 2014.", "Irving, Terence &amp; Scalmer, Sean. \"Labour intellectuals in Australia: Modes, traditions, generations, transformations,\" Review of Social History 50(1) (2005): 1-26.", "Kemp, David. \"A Leader and a Philosophy\" in Labor to Power: Australia's 1972 election, edited by Henry Mayer. Sydney: Angus &amp; Robertson, 1973.", "Kuhn, Rick. \"Australia and the Vietnam War: Analyses, Actions and Attitudes,\" Agora 44, no. 2 (2009): 28-34.", "Leffler, Melvyn P. and Westad, Odd Arne. Vol. 1 of The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.", "Love, Peter &amp; Strangio, Paul eds. Arguing the Cold War. Melbourne: Red Rag Publications, 2001.", "Lowe, David &amp; Joel, Tony. Remembering the Cold War: Global contest and national stories. Oxford: Routledge, 2013.", "Macintyre, Stuart. The Reds. Sydney: Allen &amp; Unwin, 1998.", "Manne, Robert. The Petrov Affair: Politics and espionage. Sydney: Pergamon Press, 1987.", "Martin, A. W. Robert Menzies; a life. Vol. 2, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999.", "May, A. L. The Battle for the Banks. Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1968.", "McCulloch, Jude &amp; Tham, Joo-Cheong. \"Secret State, Transparent Subject: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in the Age of Terror\" The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 38. no. 3 (2005): 400-415.", "McKnight, David. Australian Spies and Their Secrets. Sydney: Allan &amp; Unwin, 1994.", "McKnight, David. Espionage and the Roots of the Cold War: the conspiratorial heritage. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2012.", "McKnight, David. \"Partisan Improprieties: Ministerial Control and Australia's Security Agencies, 1962-1972.\" Intelligence and National Security 23, no. 2 (2008): 707-725.", "Murphy, John. Evatt; A life. Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2016.", "Murphy, John. Harvest of Fear: A history of Australia's Vietnam War. Sydney: Allen &amp; Unwin, 1993.", "Oakes, Laurie. Whitlam PM: a biography. Sydney: Angus &amp; Robertson, 1973.", "Odgers, J. R., Evans, Harry &amp; Laing, Rosemary. Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, thirteenth ed. National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2012.", "Orbinski, James. An Imperfect Offering: Dispatches from the medical frontline. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2008.", "Ormonde, Paul. The Movement. Melbourne: Nelson, 1972.", "Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books, 2011.", "Patapan, Haig. Judging Democracy: The new politics of the High Court of Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.", "Ricketson, S. \"Liberal Law in a Repressive Age: Communism and the law 1920- 1950,\" Monash University Law Review 3 (1976): 101-133.", "Saul, Ben. \"Dark Justice: Australia's indefinite detention of refugees on security grounds under international human rights law,\" Melbourne Journal of International Law 13 (2012): 685-731.", "Strangio, Paul. Keeper of the Faith: a biography of Jim Cairns. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002.", "Templeton, Jacqueline. Australian Intelligence/Security Services 1900-1950. Vol. 7 of Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security. 1977. NAA: A8908 7A-7B. Canberra.", "Tham, Joo-Cheong. \"ASIO and the Rule of Law.\" Alternative Law Journal 27, no. 5 (2002): 216-219.", "Turnbull, Malcolm. The Spy Catcher Trial. William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne, 1988.", "Ward, Alan. \"The Second Vietnam Moratorium: Reflections of a Melbourne Participant,\" Meanjin Quarterly 29, no. 4 (1970).", "Ward, Russell. Australia Since the Coming of Man. Sydney: Macmillan Company, 1987.", "Winterton, George .\"The Significance of the Communist Party Case.\" Melbourne University Law Review 18 (1992): 630-658.", "Whitlam, Nicholas &amp; Stubbs, John. Nest of Traitors: The Petrov affair. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1985.", "Woodward, Garry. \"Enigmatic Variations: The Development of National Intelligence Assessment in Australia.\" Intelligence and National Security 16, no. 2 (2001): 1- 22.", "Zines, Leslie. The High Court and the Constitution. Sydney: Federation Press, 2008.", "Brown, N. A. \"Greenwood, Ivor John (1926-1976),\" in Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996.", "Cain, Frank. \"Australian Intelligence Organisations and the Law: A Brief History,\" UNSW Law Journal 27, no. 2 (2004):", "Goot, Murray and Inglis, K. S. \"Mayer, Henry (1919\u20131991),\" in Australian Dictionary of Biography Canberra: Australian National University, 2014,", "Menghetti, Diana. \"Paterson, Frederick Woolnough (Fred (1897-1977),\" in Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed 7 February 2018,", "Templeton, Jacqueline. \"Jones, Harold Edward (1878-1965),\" Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9,", "Waterson, D. B. The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, vol. 3. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2010.", "Jordan, Douglas. \"Conflict in the Unions: The Communist Party of Australia, Politics and the Trade Union Movement, 1949-1960.\" PhD thesis, Victoria University, 2011.", "Wilson, Geoffrey J. \"The ASIO-Murphy \"Affair\" 1973: Attitudes of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party Toward the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, 1949-1974.\" Hons. diss., Australian National University, 1974."]}