From 1985 until 1992, undercover <strong>of</strong>ficers with <strong>the</strong> Victorian Police Intelligence Unit (at that point called <strong>the</strong> OIU – Operations Intelligence Unit) carried out covert operations which involved monitoring and infiltrating key community groups in Melbourne. In hindsight, it all reads like a slightly strange Keystone Cops-type operation, with a specially adapted Holden panel van with darkened windows that would be parked near demonstrations and outside <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>fices <strong>of</strong> non-government organisations. Many files on individuals, subsequently leaked to The Age newspaper in 1997, were appallingly sloppy, with names, affiliations and actions incorrectly recorded. Often people who attended a single meeting <strong>of</strong> a group were identified as “group leaders” because <strong>the</strong>y spoke at that meeting. Sometimes <strong>the</strong>re were separate files for <strong>the</strong> same person simply because no-one bo<strong>the</strong>red to cross reference shortened names with full names. But, <strong>of</strong> course, <strong>the</strong>re was a more sinister undercurrent to this work. According to The Age, <strong>the</strong> OIU went “far beyond its <strong>of</strong>ficial role <strong>of</strong> openly liaising with community groups”. It monitored groups as diverse as <strong>the</strong> Wilderness Society, 3CR community radio, <strong>the</strong> Rainforest Action Group, <strong>the</strong> Victorian Council for Civil Liberties and FoE. It carried out electronic bugging and searches without warrants, as well as placing undercover police <strong>of</strong>ficers who, “using fake identities, ... penetrated conservation groups by posing as volunteers worried about <strong>the</strong> environment” (The Age, 1997). FoE was one <strong>of</strong> those groups that received a lot <strong>of</strong> attention: <strong>the</strong> Age noted that <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficers “were so successful at infiltration... that <strong>the</strong>y helped staff <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>of</strong>fices, maintained files and updated membership lists. One undercover <strong>of</strong>ficer even spent two days <strong>of</strong> police time helping ................................................................................................................................................................................................... Police Infiltration <strong>of</strong> FoE build shelves at <strong>the</strong> Collingwood <strong>of</strong>fices <strong>of</strong> FoE. The group was so grateful it paid for a new blade for <strong>the</strong> electric saw <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficer borrowed from a colleague in <strong>the</strong> covert OIU”. Information gained by <strong>the</strong> OIU was shared with <strong>the</strong> national intelligence agency, ASIO and also <strong>Australia</strong>n Army intelligence. The OIU later became <strong>the</strong> Protective Security Intelligence Group – PSIG – who were meant to destroy <strong>the</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> files on individuals. However, <strong>the</strong>y were simply (and illegally) moved out <strong>of</strong> a police <strong>of</strong>fice and into a house in order to avoid <strong>the</strong>m being destroyed. This was not <strong>the</strong> first or last time FoE came under attention from security services. As early as <strong>the</strong> 1970s, <strong>the</strong> Victorian Special Branch was asked to “keep an eye on FoE” by steel and mining company BHP. An Inspector Norton reported on FoE activities to <strong>the</strong> company. And various companies, have placed people in <strong>the</strong> organisation. For instance, after a high pr<strong>of</strong>ile campaign on beverage packaging, a company employee was told by <strong>the</strong> PR and advertising manager <strong>of</strong> Coca Cola in Adelaide to “attend F.O.E. planning committee meetings at <strong>the</strong> (Adelaide) university; to go dressed in dirty jeans, T-shirt and sandals, and not to shave” (The <strong>Australia</strong>n, 6/11/1973). What is perhaps saddest about all this is <strong>the</strong> fact that, as an open, grassroots organisation, FoE has nothing to hide. FoE 30 <strong>Years</strong> 66
FoE 30 <strong>Years</strong> 67
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Up to a few decades ago, many peopl
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It seemed like a simple idea: to pr
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The optimism, courage and creativit
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Over thirty years, FoE has develope
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decades. In Australia, FoE is commi
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This group acted as an inspiration
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In the 1970s, a handful of key issu
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Apart from working on the direct im
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In the mid ‘70s I was studying en
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- Page 25 and 26: Keith Suter The future is never as
- Page 28 and 29: I first became aware of FoE via Pet
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- Page 37 and 38: In late 1980 a couple of people who
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- Page 41 and 42: The Australian Mining Journal noted
- Page 43 and 44: sense that these issues formed a pa
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- Page 47 and 48: Ila Marks Dave Sweeney talking at t
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- Page 74 and 75: Kathleen McCann In 1996 I was in Ja
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- Page 78 and 79: Dave Sweeney From its earliest days
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- Page 98 and 99: Steph Long, Kim Stewart Friends of
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- Page 105 and 106: Roman Orzanski Possibly the first F
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- Page 109 and 110: In 1996, Consolidated Rutile Ltd ga
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Friends of the Earth in Sydney (FoE
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Herald Sun Columnist, Andrew Bolt P
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change. Mark Carter, co-founder of
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Australia given Indigenous manageme
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Their final edition, in the year th
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FoEA is a federation rather than an
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input to national decision making f
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are independent. A secretariat base
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lead to some form of wisdom: a know
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Anon (1987); Know your FoE; the Coe
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Page 5 • ‘U Mines’ - Through
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1990s Page 46 • Image from Chain
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• The march that followed the ‘
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Page 116 • FoE ran a food stall a