Law, Politics and Intelligence by Edwards Peter;

Author:Edwards, Peter; [Peter Edwards]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of New South Wales Press

Chapter 11

The Hilton Hotel bombing and the Protective Security Review

A t 12.40 am on 13 February 1978 a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin outside the George Street entrance to the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. Two council workers collecting the garbage were killed instantly; a policeman on duty at the site died of his injuries a few days later. The guests in the hotel included Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock, and several heads of government attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting, due to begin later that day. The bomb was a profound shock and embarrassment to Fraser, who had initiated the idea of a regional meeting, to make the Commonwealth more relevant to an age when regionalism was a prominent feature of international affairs. Fraser was especially keen to develop relations with the Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai.

The second day of the Commonwealth meeting was planned to be a retreat in Bowral, some 100 kilometres south of Sydney, where the leaders could have a more relaxed and free-ranging conversation in a resort-like environment. In what was widely criticised as an over-reaction, Fraser insisted that the army be called out to ensure protection of the visiting heads of government travelling by road from Sydney to Bowral. The army was obliged to use armoured personnel carriers to ensure secure communications, leading some alarmed citizens to think that the government was deploying tanks. Undertaking this exercise at extremely short notice raised complex legal and constitutional issues of ‘military aid to the civil power’ in non-conflict situations, for which Australian authorities could only resort to outdated British provisions. The immediate reactions to the incident and the subsequent investigations gave rise to tensions and turf wars among federal and state agencies, particularly between the Commonwealth and New South Wales police; between ASIO and both the Commonwealth and New South Wales police; and between civilian and military authorities.

The media and public were also profoundly shocked by what was often, albeit misleadingly, described as Australia’s first experience of international terrorism. At the time the prevalent forms of terrorism were assassination of political leaders and hijacking of commercial aircraft by individuals or radical groups. It was widely assumed that the target of the Hilton Hotel bombing was Prime Minister Desai, one of the guests in the hotel. Suspicion immediately fell on the Ananda Marga, a spiritual association that ASIO had been monitoring before the meeting. Most members appeared to be opposed to violence, but some senior members or associates of the group in several countries were alleged to be associated with acts of violence. The principal role in investigating the bombing was taken by the New South Wales police, but the Commonwealth police and ASIO conducted their own inquiries. After several trials and inquiries, an Australian member of the Ananda Marga was convicted in 1989, but the conviction was overturned in 1991 by the Court of Criminal Appeal in the New South Wales Supreme Court, as the New South Wales police had based their case on information from a highly unreliable source.

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