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April 11th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Under surveillance … environmental campaigners. Photo: Conor Ashleigh
AUSTRALIA’S leading counterterrorism agency has been providing intelligence to the federal Labor government on anti-coal mining groups.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s involvement in monitoring of environmental campaigners comes after the Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, warned protests at power stations and coal export terminals could have ”life-threatening” consequences and ”major trade and investment implications”.
Security officials have privately suggested environmental activists pose greater threats to energy infrastructure than terrorists. However, confirmation that ASIO has been monitoring and advising on security issues arising from ”issues-motivated activism” has caused tensions between federal Labor and their parliamentary allies, the Greens.
The Greens’ leader, Bob Brown, said yesterday it was ”intolerable that the Labor government was spying on conservation groups” and condemned the ”deployment of ASIO as a political weapon” against peaceful protests.
”Martin Ferguson is incorrigible. But it’s not just Ferguson. It’s the cabinet, it’s the Labor government that’s happy to use the police and ASIO against community groups, against ordinary people, on behalf of foreign-owned mining corporations,” Mr Brown said.
The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism on Tuesday confirmed ASIO’s role in advising on security issues relating to anti-coal mining protests when the department refused to release under freedom of information a December 2010 ministerial brief on the possible disruption of energy infrastructure.
The document has been wholly exempted from release because it contains classified information derived from ”an intelligence agency document”. ASIO is exempt from the operation of FOI laws.
The briefing to Mr Ferguson followed an intelligence warning about a planned anti-coal protest action in the Hunter Valley.
The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism then ensured the Australian Energy Market Operator, Macquarie Generation and TransGrid were alerted to a ”peaceful mass action” near the Bayswater Power Station.
Seventy-three protesters who sat down on a railway line were subsequently arrested and fined $250. Most convictions were overturned on appeal.
Other FOI documents confirm that Mr Ferguson pressed the then attorney-general, Robert McClelland, in September 2009, to see whether ”the intelligence gathering services of the Australian Federal Police” could be ”further utilised” to help energy companies handle increasing activity by anti-coal industry protesters.
Mr McClelland confirmed in reply in November 2009 that the AFP ”continually monitors the activities of issues-motivated groups and individuals who may target establishments through direct action, or action designed to disrupt or interfere with essential services”.
Mr McClelland also highlighted the role of ASIO ”in intelligence gathering, analysis and advice in relation to protest activity [that] focuses on actual, or the potential for, violence … Where warranted, ASIO advice may take the form of security intelligence reports, notification of protest action or threat assessments.”
Former and current security sources have confirmed that ASIO has increased monitoring of protest activity that might disrupt energy infrastructure.
”Providing advice and intelligence to safeguard [critical infrastructure] is clearly within ASIO’s responsibilities,” one security source said.
”ASIO has a clear role, including protection against sabotage. And it’s clear [environmental] activists pose a greater threat to energy facilities than terrorists.”
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, yesterday said the ”Australian government recognises and respects people’s right to peaceful protest but will not tolerate unlawful or violent protest actions”.
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