And still we prosecute this grim farce, in honour of Lord Downer, who thought it was a jolly wheeze to rumble a poor neighbour and steal his doubloons.

Warren dear Warren. Your blindness amazes me. Some would call it too close to the fire.

Amazement one and all:

Your expectation of a moral outcome is flawed. The reason homosexuals make for the most efficient spies, (ask the pommies about this), is because they predominate in the psychopathy spectrum.

If you wish to involve yourself in the field of liars and traitors as a career choice, expect no mercy. And dragging the sordid business of espionage into the public arena only encourages those psychopathic low life who predominate its ranks to show off, as all good psychopaths tend to do.

Give it up before your studying the underside of a bus!

Dan

If you put your John Hancock to the official secrets act!? Then go and as directed, to break the law in other countries? Learn to live with it! It's the job description! It's not the boy scouts brigade!

The planting of the bugs was not immoral, just the character and instructions of the instructing conservative ministers/PM who wanted this intell?

The leaking of which created a huge shite storm and damaged otherwise, very friendly relations!

I didn't agree with having a border that had existed for decades being changed, to change transitory, relatively short-lived, commercial outcomes!

All because some do-gooder, who has done far more harm than good, had to spill beans that just didn't need to be spilled! And he broke our law and our official secrets act! And after the ink had dried on our negotiated agreement!

There were other things we could do for East Timour with far better long term, economic outcomes! All bastardised at the altar of some do-gooder's fragile conscience!

I was raised to accept the consequences of your own actions! And this is what must happen here! Bo ho, sob, poor me, I didn't know the Nun was loaded.
Alan B.

Interesting topic. I can empathise with the view of intelligence integrity but I can understand the selfish one. Corruption is everywhere- in the field, in management, in the political sphere, in the stakeholders and influencers. As intimated good management in a broad sense can direct efforts of intelligence workers in their best (broad) interest in the context of their extreme sacrifices in the field. Management will never be perfect- it's somewhat statistical.

Alan B.,
The border hadn't "existed for decades". It was first negotiated in 1989, and that treaty was of dubious legality because Indonesia was not the legal owner of East Timor.

Bugging one of our allies for our own commercial interest (in a zero sum game) is certainly immoral. There is no good reason why Australia should get any of the oil revenue from the area to which East Timor is the closest country.

Australia should be a trustworthy country that respects international law, not a greedy country that ignores every principle except its short term self interest!

Witness K and his lawyer should be applauded, not prosecuted.