Three Cheers & A Loud “Huzzah!” for slackbastard! Post #1,000!

Bloody hell, I think it may be safely said that, as far as slackbastard the blog is concerned, anarchy has well and truly triumphed over apathy. That said, I’m thinking of going into a new line of work. Care to join me, comrades?

ASIO : Recruiting Now!

A Career With Meaning… If You Want To… Protect Australia… We’ll Pay… Attention To You… ASIO Is Recruiting… ASIO

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia’s national security service.

ASIO’s main role is to gather information and produce intelligence that will enable it to warn the government about activities or situations that might endanger Australia’s national security. The ASIO Act defines “security” as the protection of Australia and its people from espionage, sabotage, politically motivated violence, the promotion of communal violence, attacks on Australia’s defence system, and acts of foreign interference.

ALL APPLICATIONS FOR EMPLOYMENT WITH ASIO ARE HANDLED IN THE STRICTEST CONFIDENCE. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU MAINTAIN A SIMILAR LEVEL OF CONFIDENTIALITY, AND THAT YOU NOT DISCUSS YOUR APPLICATION WITH OTHERS [especially not slackbastard].

Current Vacancies (February 15, 2008)

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) provides advice to protect Australia and its people from threats to national security.

Border Security Assessors
ASIO Central Office Canberra
ASIO Officer Grade 3
Salary range: $49,280 – $53,100 (plus superannuation and shift allowances)

[Et cetera]

Show. Me. The Money.

See also : Private sector spies an opening, Karen Dearne, Australian IT, January 22, 2008 | Australia ‘knew Habib would go to Egypt’, Amy Coopes/AAP, Herald Sun, February 1, 2008 (“THE first Australian official to gain access to former terror suspect Mamdouh Habib after his arrest in Pakistan says his transfer to Egypt [and torture] was a known possibility from the outset…”) | Australian police chief calls for media blackout on terrorism cases, Mike Head, wsws.org, February 4, 2008 (“Immense powers already exist to shroud police and ASIO operations in secrecy. Anyone can be secretly detained and questioned simply on suspicion that they may have “information” about terrorism. They can be jailed if they alert the media or even report their detention to their loved ones. Terrorist trials can be held behind closed doors, and secret evidence can be used, with the prisoner denied the elementary right to know its contents…”) | 30 years since Sydney’s Hilton Hotel bombing—the unanswered questions, Mike Head, wsws.org, February 13, 2008:

The bombing became a vehicle for the government to implement a sweeping build-up of the police-intelligence apparatus, the basis for which had been laid by the Whitlam government. Facing hostility in the labour movement over the openly right-wing activities of ASIO and the police Special Branches, Whitlam had commissioned a royal commission headed by Justice Robert Hope. In a series of reports, ultimately published in 1977, Hope essentially proposed legalising most of ASIO’s legally dubious phone-tapping and other surveillance operations, while recommending that the intelligence agencies focus their work more on socialist organisations rather than Labor Party and trade union figures, who posed no real threat to the political establishment.

In the meantime, however, Whitlam’s government had been removed and the dismissal fuelled further concerns about the role of the security services. In November 1977, Premier Don Dunstan’s Labor government in South Australia commissioned an inquiry by Justice White, which reported that the state’s police Special Branch, with the assistance of ASIO, maintained files on 40,000 people, including Labor MPs, union members, civil libertarians and peace protestors. Just four days before the Hilton bombing, NSW Premier Wran was forced to announce an inquiry into the links between ASIO and the NSW Special Branch. As a result of the bombing, Wran dropped the inquiry.

Three weeks after the explosion, an ASIO Bill was introduced into federal parliament. As proposed by Hope, the legislation authorised ASIO to intercept mail and telecommunications, use bugging devices, and carry out searches and seizures. Disclosure of the identity of ASIO agents became a criminal offence. Within two months of the bombing, former British police chief Sir Robert Mark completed a report to the Fraser government calling for the establishment of the Australian Federal Police and the creation of police para-military units.

These measures, the greatest expansion of the powers and resources of the police-intelligence apparatus since World War II, helped lay the foundations for the even more draconian police-state provisions introduced since 2001 on the pretext of combating terrorism…

No sorry for cleared terror suspect
AAP
Sydney Morning Herald
February 18, 2008

The federal government won’t say sorry to a Sydney man cleared of taking part in terrorist training. Neither will the government offer compensation to Sydney medical student Izhar Ul-Haque. “The government has no plans to make an apology or offer compensation,” Attorney-General Robert McClelland said in a message read to a Senate estimates committee today… Justice Adams accused ASIO officers of kidnapping, false imprisonment and violating Mr ul-Haque’s civil rights. He found the officers’ oppressive conduct had a flow-on effect in influencing admissions to the Australian Federal Police…

Secret policemen’s bill: $7.5m
Jonathan Pearlman
Sydney Morning Herald
February 19, 2008

MORE than 600 security officials around the nation have worked on the Mohamed Haneef case and the related British bombings in an investigation which cost more than $7.5 million, collected 300 witness statements and examined 349 forensic samples. And the result so far: one charge against the doctor that was dropped within a fortnight…