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New book demolishes the
case against David Combe
The Stumblebum Syndrome, by
Laurie Aarons. Red Pen
Publications, Sydney, 1984.
Reviewed by Jenny Hocking.
Laurie Aarons has written a
fascinating and timely
account of ASIO's
operations against David
Combe, and the findings of the
subsequent Royal Commission
under Justice Hope.
Security issues have generally
received little critical attention from
Australian authors, and Richard
Hall's The Secret State has become
almost a standard reference on
security matters for this very reason.
That book, however, was
published in 1978, and does not
examine any of the recent activities
of our domestic security services.
The Stumblebum Syndrome,
refreshingly well-written in an area
so often filled with intelligence
jargon, ably fills that void.
The strength of the Stumblebum
Syndrome lies in its use of the
Combe-Ivanov affair as a starting-
point from which to investigate the
general issues of ASIO's
accountability, its concepts of
"security", "agent of influence" and
"subversion", and its surveillance of
those it considers security risks! "
Taken in isolation, the
government's actions against David
Combe could be seen as extreme and
extraordinary. However, Laurie
Aarons clearly argues, through his
examination of ASIO's history, that
this episode must be considered in
the context of a traditional security
anti-radicalism in Australia.
"Agent of influence"
The precedent set by the affair is
its use of the broad and ill-defined
term "agent of influence". Although
Aarons suggests that "agent of
influence" is merely a new term for
"subversive", there is, in fact, an
important distinction.
Whereas subversives are seen to
be actively involved in acts of
subversion, "agents of influence" do
so unwittingly. Hope introduced
this concept in the report of his first
Royal Commission and, in doing so,
he cast a net of suspicion wide
enough to entrap any person
holding a prominent political or
economic position who also voiced
opinions contrary to the national
interest.
David Combe, therefore, was at
risk partly because of his central
position within the Labor Party —
his ready access to ministers, and
their assumed readiness to pass on
national secrets to him.
This was strengthened by his own
political beliefs — his "bitter anti-
Americanism", and probably most
importantly, by his continued
attempts to uncover evidence of CI A
involvement in the 1975 sacking of
Gough Whitlam.
ASIO's case against Combe is
soundly demolished in The
Stumblebum Syndrome piece by
piece — from his exclusive access to
government documents, his anti-
Americanism, to his alleged
"venality" and awareness that
Ivanov was, in fact, a KGB officer.
Aarons points out that ASIO's
initial case against Combe lacked
the claim which was later presented
as the conclusive evidence of
Combe's imminent treachery — the
alleged offer from Ivanov to Combe
for their relationship to go
clandestine.
"When Harvey Barnett felt
impelled to seek an interview with
Mr Hawke, on 5th April 1983,
ASIO's case depended solely on the
fact that Ivanov was a KGB officer
and that Combe wanted to get rich,
was bitterly anti-American,
enthusiastic about the Soviet Union
and had access to ministers .... At
that stage, ASIO lacked what
became its key issue 15 days later
when Barnett met Hawke on April
20th. This was the alleged
clandestinity proposal .... which
came to hand on the very day
Barnett met the PM."
This crucial element in ASIO's
case against Combe came, it is
suggested, from the Royal
Commission's most enigmatic
witness, Laurie Matheson.
Laurie Aarons paints an
enthralling picture of the self-made |
millionaire' Matheson: "(he had) J
truly, an unusual and glamorous
career, accumulating huge wealth, |
jetsetting around the world, I
negotiating deals worth millions of
dollars and skimming off many
millions for himself, spending freely
on the good things of life in generous
measure."
"Get rich"
How ironic that so much of the
case regarding Combe's allegedly
almost unnatural desire to "get rich",
stemmed from the evidence of a man
who netted several millions dollars
profit from just one contract his
company, Commercial Bureau,
signed with the USSR.
The devastating imposition that
has been placed on David Combe's
political and personal liberties has
made it easy for this episode to be
seen as both unprecedented and not
to be repeated. Yet as Senator
Georges implored his fellow MPs to
recognise, "this could happen to any
of us".
The Stumblebum Syndrome
argues cogently that the operations
of our domestic security
organisations similarly affect the
careers of countless people who are
denied a security clearance. Even
Justice Hope, in the report of his
1974 Royal Commission, referred to
ASIO's "tendency to think of
anyone they chose to call 'left-wing'
as subversive".
Those whom ASIO sees as "left-
wing" have, for years, been subjected
to harassment and persecution by a
security system which sees only
treachery in people striving for a less
iniquitous society. Laurie Aarons is
to be congratulated on a fine study.
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