Don't let your prejudices blind you to the mountain of info out there which you are not party to.
ASIO has had immeasurable success which it can never crow about. Because of the nature of the organisation, that is the way it has to be. They have very plainly played a critical in the uncovering of terrorist sleeper cells in OZ in the last year. We will never know how many disasters they have anticipated and averted.
Try to believe me when I say that your life is better because of ASIO.
It is probably no wonder that ASIO's fiercest critics know very little about it. They know least of all about its functions, its activities and its functions, let alone its successes.
If it did not exist it would have to be created. Think about that. It is essential for every first world country to have an intelligence gathering organisation like ASIO. In fact it would be downright insane right now (if not impossible) not to have one.
And don't confuse ASIO with the Federal Police who are, indeed a joke. The two do not respect or trust each other. And the state police forces feel the same about the Feds.
This is historical. If you will recall, when Murphy raided ASIO he took Commonwealth police with him as a raiding party to enforce his will and to ensure that his instructions were carried out. In doing so he set the two organisations against each other.
Also you might recall that the embarrassment of it all forced Whitlam to take responsibility for ASIO away from Murphy and vest it within the Prime Minister's Department.
But getting back to Whitlam I will just put another couple of nails in his coffin.
It is not well known that he had no socialist inclinations, sympathies comprehension or background. In short, he was a hypocrite. Long before he sought preselection with the ALP he consulted Bob Menzies for advice on a political career he had in mind (he always harboured illusions of grandeur). You see, Whitlam had the Liberal Party in mind as his vehicle. Bob advised him to have a look at the ALP because there was less competition there on the road to the top.
For a fuller understanding of Whitlam's complete noncomprehension of things socialist I again recommend a read of the Cameron Diaries. It is a heavy read of about 850 pages, but very worthwhile. It also contains many admissions by Cameron as to the naivite of the Whitlam Cabinet in matters economic. These admissions would put to bed most of the discussion on that subject on this thread.
The biggest nail to go in Whitlam's coffin was his sell-out of the people of Timor to the Indonesians. Once again, there is a good rundown on his unforgiveable actions in this regard in the Cameron Diaries.
For anyone interested in understanding Whitlam the man I recommend a read of "November 1975" by Paul Kelly. He goes to some lengths to set the scene by writing a complete character assessment of the players, Fraser, Whitlam and Kerr. Whitlam comes out of it as a loner who does not understand other people and cannot relate to them. He has many acquaintances but no true friends. He simply does not understand other human beings.
Another good read is Kerr's biograpy, the title of which I can't remember, but it ain't hard to find. Interestingly Kerr had a background as a spook himself and went on many a secret mission for the Australian goivernment. Intrigue was not new to him so it is not surprising that he learned from what happened to Nixon not long beforehand and had his office wired to record all conversations.
Alan Reid (who is now dead) said that in the tape Kerr gave Whitlam a choice of being sacked for not being able to deliver Supply or for something else. Whitlam chose the Supply option as it did not reflect on him personally.
Another journalist who is not dead yet said that Whitlam called Kerr all sorts of things and threatened to out him, and that Kerr threatened to out Whitlam in return, etc.
As to whether Fraser knew what was going to happen I have my doubts. Why doesn't someone ask him? He didn't look as if he knew what was going to happen the night before when he attended the Melbourne Lord Mayor's (Ronald Walker) dinner with Whitlam and yours truly.
