Australia’s recent phone tapping scandal comes as no surprise to former ASIO officer and Lonely Planet author Paul Greenway.
Since leaving ASIO Paul has crossed countless international borders, actively engaged in foreign relations and listening in on private conversations, all in the pursuit of the perfect holiday destination!
Best known as the author of 30 Lonely Planet books, Greenway is launching his first fiction book, Bali & Oates, on December 10 at the South Australian Writers Centre at 7pm, and a book signing at Dymocks Rundle Mall on December 13 at 12.30pm.
The book takes a honest and humourous look at the absurdities of international relations.
Samantha Oates is Consul General to Bali. She and her intelligence team have come together to work out how to protect the Australian Prime Minister on his forthcoming trip to Bali, after terrorist group called B.U.T.T made a threat against him.
The Prime Minister’s trip is of the utmost importance because it will secure relations between Australia and Bali with the signing of the multi-million dollar BOGAN (Bali Oil and Gas Access Negotiations) agreement.
How serious is the threat? No one is willing to share their information, so no one knows how serious the threat is or what the threat actually is.
Paul Greenway believes people gather intelligence for one reason: because they can.
“The ability to collect intelligence from a phone tap or human source makes people who gather and interpret the information so excited that no one asks: so what?
“We might find out that the Indonesian President’s wife has sacked her maid, or that the Indonesian Minister for Religious Affairs is travelling to Mecca. So what?
“The government—and to some degree the media—let the word ‘intelligence’ linger unexplained, knowing that the public will assume that it’s about gathering information for security and anti-terrorism purposes.
In fact, most intelligence gathered by Australia is for political and economic purposes and has nothing to do with ‘national security.’
“Nobody anywhere believes the Indonesian President is a terrorist or knows anything about Australia’s security that we don’t already know.
“Tapping his and his wife’s phones is about gaining advantage in business and politics. And it is illegal, immoral and unacceptable as the CEO of Coles tapping the phone of the Woolworths CEO in the ‘interest of shareholders.’ “
To win one of five copies of Bali & Oates, click here.
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