Was Lionel Murphy anti-Croat

This is an excellent article by the team at Hrvatski Vjesnik in Australia, published a couple of weeks back. It digs at the real motivations of Australian government actions against Australian Croats in the 1970's. More please!

Brian 

Hrvatski Vjesnik

EXCLUSIVE FEATURE:
In 1973, the Australian Croatian community became embroiled in one of
the biggest political scandals in Australian political history....

Was Lionel Murphy anti-Croat because he was a KGB agent?

One of the biggest, most significant political scandals ever to occur in
contemporary Australian history recently celebrated its 30th
anniversary.
Namely, 30 years have passed since Lionel Murphy, one of the most
controversial Australian politicians in the 70s, organized the highly
dramatic break-in at the headquarters of ASIO - Australia's secret
police - claiming that he was attempting to prevent an assassination
attempt being carried out by suspected Croatian terrorists on the then
Yugoslav premier, Djemal Bijedic.
This occurred on the 16th of March,1973 - more than 30 years ago - yet
many details of the affair which rocked the Australian political scene
for many months afterwards, still today remain somewhat of a mystery.
To this day, it is still unknown as to exactly why the then Federal
Attorney General, Lionel Murphy, in the early hours of the morning and
backed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), decided to break into the
top-secret Melbourne headquarters of ASIO.
One thing is certain, though, until the real truth eventually surfaces,
there will remain much speculation and assumptions being made regarding
one of the biggest scandals ever to rock this country. A scandal that
was to ultimately compromise both Murphy and ASIO.
The mass selling Sydney daily, the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' wrote the
following about the whole affair, ''....The Croatian affair has become
one of the most talked about political issues in the first year of the
new Labor government...''
Murphy's actions provoked a series of scandals which captivated the
Australian public and were responsible for Murphy acquiring the
notorious title of one of the most controversial figures in Australian
political history.
Whilst he was still officially the Federal Attorney General, Murphy
became the subject of a no-confidence motion (resolution) by the
Australian Senate. At the same time, ASIO, whom he had forced into a
compromising situation, had doubts about him - even suspecting that he
was a KGB (Soviet) agent.
Later still, whilst performing the duties of High Court judge, Murphy
went down in the history books as the first ever judge to be the subject
of, not one but, two Senate inquiries into corrupt practices. One of two
inquiries, the one held in 1985, actually found him guilty!
The 'Murphy Affair', for us Australian Croats, is of particular
significance as it suddenly thrust us in the midst of a frenzied
political tussle which lasted several months..
They were - for us - difficult days, weeks, months... as we were being
publicly vilified on a daily basis and were forced to defend our dignity
and honor, as on many occasions we were subjected to early morning
raids on our own homes. In essence, our basic human and civil rights
were violated.
Thirty years later, the 'Murphy affair' remains as controversial as
ever, thanks to the revelations of newly discovered evidence that has
'floated to the surface'.
What exactly happened in those days?
The Australian Labour Party (ALP) government, led by Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam, rose to power following the federal elections held in
December, 1972. Lionel Murphy rose to prominence not only as
Attorney-General but also as the leader of the ALP in the Senate, which
meant that he was basically one of the most powerful figures in the new
government.
On the 20th of March, 1973, the then Yugoslav Prime Minister Djemal
Bijedic - who was later killed under mysterious circumstances in a
airplane accident on the outskirts of Sarajevo - was scheduled to
commence a three-day official visit to Australia.
A specially formed federal government committee, consisting of
representatives from all the major government ministries, police forces
and secret services, advised the new government to abort the planned
visit due to political and security reasons. Nonetheless, the newly
elected government decided not to heed their advice.
With roughly a week to go before Bijedic's scheduled visit, Murphy and
his closest advisers had already hatched a plan to break into the
Melbourne headquarters of the Australian secret service (ASIO) on the
pretext that the secret service is withholding valuable information from
the new government. That 'valuable information' concerned the alleged
plan by 'Croatian terrorists' to assassinate the soon-to-arrive Bijedic.

MURPHY CONSULTS GEORGE NEGUS

The Croatian Herald has for several years now been investigating the
background details surrounding the 'Murphy Affair'. During our
investigations, we have stumbled across some rather startling new
evidence. However, the picture should become even clearer over the
ensuing 12 months, when highly sensitive government documents are made
public when the 30 year secrecy time limit expires next year.
Murphy made the decision to 'raid' the ASIO Headquarters on the 15th of
March, 1973 after having consulted with his then Press Secretary George
Negus and his young 'advisor' formerly from the Australian federal
Police, Kerry Milte.
Milte, whose role was specifically to address the 'Croatian problem'
was earlier hired on recommendations made by Negus himself.
Murphy initially broke into the Canberra branch of ASIO on the 15th of
March, 1973 accompanied by Milte and his secretary Maureen Barron. Once
inside, he requested the Regional Director, Colin Brown, to show him the
secret dossiers on Croats in Australia, which Brown obliged.
Brown, however, became shocked when Murphy then started to investigate
(go through) other secret documents, in particular those that were kept
under the surname Murphy.
Murphy evidently wanted to see for himself what evidence the western
secret services had collected about him and he wanted to find out what
exactly they knew about him.
It is a widely known fact that Australian and American secret services
for years co-operated closely, frequently exchanging sensitive items of
information. This act by Murphy, was regarded in intelligence circles as
possibly the real reason as to why he 'raided' the secret services'
headquarters. The 'Croatian terorists' justification was merely a cover.

Since he was unable to uncover what he intended to find out, he told
Colin Brown, ''I want you to give me everything you have here.'' At
which Brown replied that the central headquarters wasn't in Canberra,
but in Melbourne. And it was there that all the secret files were kept.
Murphy departed the regional office around one o'clock after midnight.
He went home to his house in Arthur Circle,Forrest and arranged a
24-hour guard of Federal Police Officers he trusted to watch over his
Forrest home.
At 3.30am, inside his house, he held a meeting with two Federal
policemen, Inspector Dick Dixon and Senior Detective Roger Cavanagh. He
asked them about their opinions on the dangers posed by the 'Croatian
terrorists'.
Two hours later, at 5.30am, he spoke to another expert on the 'Croatian
problem', a fellow by the name of Parsons. During the conversation,
Muprhy and Milte attempted to contact the Director of ASIO, Peter
Barbour and his assistant, who was responsible for Croatian matters,
John Elliott. They were unsuccessful as their phones were constantly
engaged.
They then telephoned the head of the Croatian desk, Harold Magnay, who
in fact was a British MI5 agent who was in Australia as part of an
exchange. His phone was also engaged.
Worried that the secret files could be moved or even destroyed, Murphy
sent an urgent telex (fax) to the Melbourne branch of the AFP with
instructions to immediately despatch men to ASIO Headquarters and to
place the entire building under surveillance.
Murphy, accompanied by his most trusted advisers and several Federal
police officers he considered loyal to him, arrived at Canberra Airport
at 7am - bound for Melbourne.
Prior to their departure, at the airport they ran into (coincidently?)
an ASIO courier, Don Marshall. They confiscated a bag from Marshall
containing several top secret documents that Murphy had supposedly been
searching for.

ASIO AGENTS VISIBLY UPSET

In the meantime, at the Melbourne Headquarters of ASIO, agents and
other staff
who were just arriving to work, were met at the front door by members of
the Australian Federal Police. They were ushered into a large room where
they waited for Murphy and his entourage to arrive from Canberra.
The touring party from Canberra arrived at ASIO Headquarters at
approximately 9.45am. Murphy immediately greeted the gathering with a
short speech. Many staff were visibly upset, some even in tears.
The Attorney General then examined the Secret Service's card/index
containing the names and details of all the ASIO files. Inside the safe
marked #85 on the 7th floor, several documents were discovered, ones
which Murphy allegedly were looking for.
At 10.50am, Murphy and his assistants (Cavanagh, Milte, Dixon and
Parsons) held a private meeting with ASIO senior officers; Barbour,
Behm, Elliott, Marshall and Magnay. During this tense and acrimonious
two hour meeting, Murphy interrogated the secret agents at length about
the 'Croatian terrorists', the supposed terrorist training camps as well
as the alleged assassination plot on Bijedic.
During the meeting, under pressure, the head of the Croatian desk,
Harold Magnay admitted that ASIO had not managed to recruit any reliable
informants in the Croatian ranks. This was confirmed by Behm. ASIO
claimed that they didn't have any proof that Croatian extremists were
planning on assassinating Bijedic, but they did confirm that their
agents, as requested by the Federal Police, were keeping a close eye on
several Croats, namely Srecko Rover and Zdenko Marincic.
When Murphy finally did leave ASIO Headquarters in the early afternoon,
he found several television crews waiting for him on the steps of the
building
The Attorney General's ''raid'' into the previously untouched archives
of the Secret Services was a first class sensation and a political
scandal that rocked Gough Whitlam's government and - along with several
other incidents - eventually lead to its downfall.
Senior ASIO staff feared that the credibility of ASIO had been severely
compromised as no other intelligence organization, especially the CIA,
could be sure that top secret intelligence would continue to remain
secret.
They weren't the only ones deeply worried. ASIO's informers
Australiawide were thrown into a panic as they too - and justifiably so
- felt that their identities may have become compromised.
The following day, on Saturday 17th of March, the situation at ASIO
quickly became chaotic.
A four member delegation consisting of some of the most senior
officers, requested an urgent meeting with the leader of the Opposition
Bill Snedden and the leader of the National Party Doug Anthony.
One of the officers openly stated that ''Murphy had come looking for
his own file. He was convinced that ASIO was keeping a file on him but
he couldn't find it''.
Snedden became very concerned about the allegations and at the same
time equally worried about the possibility that Murphy could from now on
gain access to and use other sections of the archives in order to bring
down political opponents. This fear was eventually vindicated when the
weekly 'National Times' soon started publishing highly controversial
political material that was suspected to have been obtained from secret
files.
Dûemal Bijedic's Australian visit was accompanied by media hysteria
centred around the possible assassination attempt by so called Croatian
'terrorists' as well as unprecedented security arrangements.
Bijedic's security was assured by more than one thousand police
officers. Prior to his arrival, police helicopters patrolled the
Canberra skies while police snipers were stationed on many of Canberra's
roofs. All entry points to Canberra were blocked by the police and every
vehicle was comprehensively checked.
Despite all these extreme measures, more than seven thousand Croats
nevertheless still managed to stage a peaceful demonstration in front of
Parliament House with a clear message: ''Yugoslavia is a prison for the
people'' and ''We want our own, independent Croatian state''.
It's interesting to note, however, that despite all these extraordinary
security measures, the police obviously hadn't done their job well, as
it was later revealed that at the Lakeside Hotel (where Bijedic and his
touring party were staying - on floors 12, 13 and 14), there was at
least one patriotic Croat.

MURPHY TURNS TO
ALP LEFT WING FOR SUPPORT AGAINST CROATS

On the 27th of March, Murphy held his notorious speech about 'Croatian
extremism' during which he revealed more than 60 - up until then top
secret - ASIO and police files and documents involving Croats in
Australia.
Murphy, however, wasn't satisfied with the low interest these documents
generated in the press. Media attention lasted for only a few days
before turning to other issues.
Murphy asked the left wing of the ALP to start a campaign against the
Croats based on these documents but was told bluntly by the left wing
that they had neither the personnel nor the financial resources to
undertake such a project.
Despite the fact that he was the Federal Attorney General at the time,
Murphy turned to his old friend Arthur Gietzelt to ask the Communist
Party of Australia (CPA) to take up the campaign against the Croats.
Gietzelt and one other member of the ALP then organized a secret
meeting with two of the leaders of the CPA, Laurie Aarons and Joe
Palmada.
The meeting was held in a motel near Wollongong where it was agreed
that all Murphy's documents would be handed over to them by Gietzelt's
daughter at the University of New South Wales, which occured a few days
later.
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, in the meantime, was under increasing
public pressure because of Murphy.. But the first real serious conflict
between Whitlam and Murphy occured several weeks later, when Yugoslavia
revealed (announced) that three Australian citizens - members of the
'Bugojno Group' - had been captured and executed by firing squad. The
three included Vejsil Keskic, ?uro Horvat and Mirko Vlasnovic. Australia
was neither informed that they had been captured nor that they were to
be executed.
As a result of that incident, Whitlam sent a strongly worded protest to
Belgrade at which the Yugoslav Ambassador in Canberra Uros Vidovic
expressed his amazement, saying that Yugoslavia had notified the then
Minister for Justice - Lionel Murphy!
Whitlam was evidently angry that Murphy had failed to notify his
government about this rather sensitive issue, to which Murphy responded
by saying that yes, he had been told, but not officially, but
unofficially during a 'private' conversation.
The simple fact that the Australian Attorney General was involved in
'unofficial' conversations with representatives of a communist country
and had failed to notify his own government about this was, for many
people, a very worrying revelation.
Murphy's behaviour, especially his persistent efforts in attempting to
locate his own file in the secret archives in Canberra and Melbourne
(and later on one occasion in Adelaide as well), provoked serious
concerns and doubts about his own personal integrity by leading circles
within the Intelligence community, who soon started an internal secret
investigation into his background.
The subsequent inquiry concerning Murphy uncovered new and even more
worrying facts. During the first phase, the inquiry commenced along
classic lines. That is, it commenced with the establishment of basic
personal information, his birth details were examined - where he was
born, who his parents were, who signed the birth certificate, which
school he attended, who were his childhood acquaintances....
From the outset, the investigators had difficulties establishing
certain facts from his childhood, which led well informed journalist
Peter Samuel to note the following in the May 5, 1973 edition of 'The
Bulletin'.
''Murphy's origins are to an extent a little unclear and as a result
the subject of many rumours. The most widely held view was that he was
of Jewish extraction and that he changed his name. He was born in 1922,
but details as to his childhood and early education are difficult to
ascertain.''
These early doubts regarding Murphy's origins were soon overcome, but
as the inquiry progressed, other interesting facts were soon to emerge.
Murphy had ascended to a high position on the Senate voting (electoral)
list, which guaranteed him a spot in the Senate, thanks to his longtime
association and friendship with the influential Gietzelt brothers (Ray
and Arthur), who were both suspected of being secret members of the
Australian Communist Party.
From 1952 to 1954, Murphy had assisted Ray Gietzelt in assuming control
of the highly influential and powerful Miscellanous Workers' Union.
The Inquiry also revealed two rather bizarre facts. Murphy had been
married on two occasions and both of his wives had ethnic roots from
Eastern Bloc countries.
Furthermore, Murphy's second wife, Ingrid Gee, had changed her maiden
name by deed poll. The Inquiry had revealed that her original surname
had been Grzonkowski and that she was born in Poland.
To make matters even more intriguing, Murphy's first wife Nina, to whom
he had been married for 15 years - but about whom very little was known
- was a Byelorussian by ethnicity, and was born in the Soviet Union, in
the small town of Chita, near the Soviet-Mongolian border. Along with
her parents, she fled the USSR arriving in Australia in 1925 from
Vladivostok.

MURPHY'S HONG KONG LIAISON WITH
COMMUNIST EXILE

The investigators concluded that young Lionel Murphy more than likely
had contacts with KGB agents, whilst married to his first wife, whose
family it would appear had been blacklmailed. This was probably one of
the main reasons why he was so desperately trying to track down his
file, because he feared that it may contain details of his early
activities.
Some other intriguing details were also uncovered. Murphy wed his
second wife, Ingrid Grzonkowski, in November 1969 in Hong Kong where he
was followed by the British secret service (MI5) and seen having regular
liaisons with elements of the criminal underworld and with individuals
who were suspected of collaborating with - or working for - the Soviets.

One of the Pro-Soviets with whom Murphy regularly kept in contact with,
and had met on several occasions in Hong Kong, was the notorious
Australian journalist of communist persuasion, Wilfred Burchett.
Burchett was at the time living in exile, as the Australian government
had for decades refused him permission and passport to return to
Australia.
In light of these revelations, the official note that the Director of
ASIO, Peter Barbour had made, took on a whole new level of significance.
Barbour had made a note, that during one of his early meetings with
Murphy, who was then Attorney General, Murphy had sought an explanation
from him as to why ASIO was bugging the Yugoslav Embassy in Canberra.
Barbour noted that Murphy had requested that ASIO cease spying on the
Yugoslav Embassy to which he Barbour, had responded that the Yugoslav
Embassy had been placed under surveillance not so much to observe the
activities of the Yugoslav spy network but so that ASIO could thereby
indirectly find out more about the activities of the 'Croatian
extremists'.
At that point, another contentious - yet interesting - fact emerged.
One of Murphy's close house friends was the attractive Junie Morosi, who
was to later become the personal assistant to the notorious, anti-Croat
politician, the Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns. Their 'personal
relationship' was to become the subject of another political scandal
which culminated in the political downfall of Cairns.
Murphy himself, as soon as he was officially sworn into the new
government, sought from the secret services a list of the 'most
dangerous' agents, which in itself attracted a great deal of suspicion
and doubt as to his motives.
But where the Attorney General became most vulnerable was with regards
to the secret connections he maintained with members of the Sydney
underworld, which it would appear, was detected very early by members of
the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB).
During one such secret meeting at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney,
amongst those present was one individual suspected of being a member of
the HRB. This would mean that this clandestine Croatian organisation
would have been aware from very early that Murphy was vulnerable due to
his connections with the Sydney underworld.
Murphy's activities and meetings soon became the focus of intensive
surveillance operations by local secret services. Not only was he the
subject of physical surveillance but of electronic surveillance as well.
His offices had been bugged and his phone conversations were taped. The
majority of his conversations were recorded.
The surveillance on Murphy continued even after he left politics and
was later appointed a High court judge.
Murphy's downfall started in 1983 when the respected Australian daily
''The Age'' published the contents of several taped conversations, which
was to later become known as 'The Age Tapes' affair.
The Senate was to eventually appoint two commissions of inquiry into
Murphy's behavior. The first, a six-member commission, was divided on
the issue, but the second found him guilty of corruption.
In 1986, following an unanimous vote by both Houses of the Australian
Parliament, a new inquiry (process) was instigated against Murphy.
Nonetheless, he openly declared that he would refuse to cooperate with
the inquiry.
In October 1986 he died from cancer.
Despite the revelations that have been uncovered about his shady
affairs, today - 30 years later - many other details regarding the
mysterious secret life of Lionel Murphy are yet to be revealed.....

Formatted for CROWN by Nenad Bach