Australia’s attorney general, George Brandis, has warned of the risk posed by “trusted insiders” ranging from Judas Iscariot to the “treacherous” former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Brandis, a frequent critic of Snowden for leaking documents related to US intelligence and other “five eyes” partners including Australia, told a security conference that “the threat of the trusted insider is an enduring one because sadly treachery is endemic in human nature among some”.

The attorney general told the 2014 Security in Government conference in Canberra on Tuesday that a trusted insider could become an “insidious enemy”.

“Trusted insiders are exactly that – they work within our organisations, they have access to our information – they know how things work,” he said. “From that privileged position, a trusted insider can cause enormous damage.”

Brandis said the trusted insider was “a familiar figure throughout our history, and indeed, our literature” and he cited Macbeth and Brutus.

“Judas Iscariot is one of the historically best-known examples of a trusted insider,” he said.

“Guy Fawkes was part of a revolutionary group who plotted to blow up most of England’s aristocracy, including the king, in 1605. Using a pseudonym, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators leveraged their positions and contacts to place barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords. The infamous gunpowder plot was foiled by authorities who caught Fawkes before he could carry out his treacherous intentions.

“More recently, I don’t need to remind anyone in this room about the damage caused to the US and her allies through the treachery of Edward Snowden.

“Snowden, and his apologists, claim that he acted in the public interest but he has sought refuge in a country that is an historical opponent of the US. From there he continued to leak the information to which he had privileged access as a government contractor and which he exfiltrated unlawfully.”

Brandis said Snowden’s revelations had “placed Australia’s relationships with countries in our region under strain”.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/brandis-warns-conference-of-dangers-posed-by-trusted-insiders

And why Australia’s relationships with countries in our region placed under strain, you may ask? Well the Australian government has been duplicitous, deceitful and did some "bad things" under the cover of being friendly, including buggering Timor Leste... So, is knowing of our country's bad deed a good or a bad thing?... It's good for the general public to know that the boffins in Canberra are crooks, but bad for the government being exposed it was involved in deceit... Brandis is clutching at straw with the grip of a snake's fist...