downerAlexander Downer has been a successful slippery fidgetty fudger who has not been able to stop himself from having his fingers in the pies of others…  Please, should you go near him by accident or being invited to the same Royal cocktail party, make sure you say nothing compromising about your persona or that of of your fellow republican conspirators — and that your underpants are made of bullet-proof kevlar so he cannot place a finger or a microphone where he should not. Here we revisit why he got medals for being the shiftiest person in Australia politicalzones and diplomacology. He is a “Liberal” (CONservative) protected species who can sing (badly) and sometimes wear fishnet stockings...   Politics BERNARD KEANE NOV 12, 2020  

From Crikey

 

While Porter parties, his protection racket inflicts misery

 

 As Alan Tudge tried to protect Christian Porter from embarrassment, so Porter is trying to protect Alexander Downer from scrutiny over his role in the bugging of Timor-Leste.  Privilege protects privilege.  So it seems after further revelations today about how Alan Tudge pressured an ABC journalist to delete a photo taken in a Canberra night spot that, according to Four Corners’ bombshell report on Monday, would have embarrassed and compromised Christian Porter.  Any minister of the Crown learning that a colleague may have placed themselves in a position to be compromised should have immediately alerted the prime minister, possibly for referral to intelligence agencies. Public Bar in Manuka is a well-known locale for politicians, staffers and journalists, the latest in a succession of such nightspots in Canberra.  Don’t think people connected to foreign intelligence services weren’t mingling there on Wednesday nights as well. Who else took a photo of Porter, more surreptitiously?  In any event, Tudge, a child of Melbourne privilege — elite Haileybury, Melbourne University, Harvard — sought to protect another child of privilege, Christian Porter, whose offensive frat house behaviour as a young man — as opposed to his alleged continuing partying these days — was well documented by the ABC.  Significant as it is in itself, the incident is the perfect symbol for what party boy Porter himself is doing for Alexander Downer.  Downer ordered ASIS to bug the cabinet rooms of the Timor-Leste government in 2004 in order to give Australia an advantage over the fledgling state in negotiations over resources in the Timor Sea. The advantage gained would accrue to resources company/de factogovernment agency Woodside. After leaving politics, Downer took a job with Woodside. His DFAT secretary of the time, Ashton Calvert, took a directorship.  Porter’s authorisation of the prosecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery for revealing ASIS’ crime is intended to punish them for exposing Downer and the Howard government. Porter’s conduct in the prosecution, however, is designed to cover up Downer’s role.  He has sought to make the trial secret, he has repeatedly intervened in proceedings (separately from the DPP; Collaery and K face two legal oppositions — the barristers of the DPP, and Porter’s barrister trying to keep as much as possible secret); Porter has so stymied and delayed the trial of Collaery that his barrister has been twice chided by magistrates for delays.  There is a key question in this trial about Downer: what authority did he have to authorise ASIS’ conduct? Did prime minister Howard, his cabinet or the National Security Committee approve it, or did Downer decide himself? We may never publicly learn the answer to that crucial question because Porter is trying to keep it secret.  Privilege protecting privilege.  Only, instead of demanding the deletion of a photo, Porter is trashing basic rights like open trials and long-standing norms like the Commonwealth’s status as a model litigant.  Porter’s conduct has had enormous impacts on K and Collaery — two men who have served their country and protected its national security in ways Porter could only dream about as he sleeps off another big night on the dance floor. K remains unclear exactly as to what he is being asked to plead guilty to, having indicated that, given his health and the mental toll Porter’s vexatious prosecution has inflicted, he wants the whole thing done with.  Collaery’s practice has been wrecked and he is living on borrowings. The process has so far dragged on for more than two years, with 42 hearings so far without a trial date in sight — the majority driven by Porter’s interventions.   It includes the juvenile tactic of requiring Collaery to travel interstate to view, but not retain, the allegedly secret brief directed against him. All while Porter, according to footage aired by the ABC, carried on carousing, and allegedly compromising himself as a national security risk far worse than even the fantasies claimed by the prosecution of K and Collaery.  The bugging of Timor-Leste and the persecution of K and Collaery are the biggest political scandal of recent decades in Australia. That the press gallery seems to have been mostly uninterested in it — or have fallen for Porter’s tactic of dragging things out so long people forget about it — doesn’t change that.  It’s been a raw demonstration of the ugliness of how power is used in Australia by well-connected corporations, their political shills and the parties that protect and enable them. Power used at the expense of the people of Timor-Leste. Power used at the expense of K and Collaery.  And despite Porter’s efforts at secrecy, at least some of it has occurred in plain sight at the ACT Law Courts building, in full view of the press gallery if they wanted to come five minutes down the road.  Like Porter’s alleged behaviour in Public Bar, in full view five minutes in the other direction from Parliament House.  If you’re not enraged by the smug, smirking indecency of it all, you might want to check your moral compass. It’s an obscenity.  ----------------------------  From David Long 

Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — this time in different words: Alexander Downer, the Fredo of the Downer family, is the key who opened that particular Pandora’s Box known as Russian interference on behalf of Trump in the 2016 Presidential election.

If Donald Trump wants to hold anyone accountable, he should come out swinging at Downer. Perhaps Dana White could set up an MMA Octagon event: “In the blue corner, orange bad man and President of the United States of America, Donald J Trump. In the red corner, dressed in fishnet stockings and a tutu, Australian politician and diplomat, Alexander Downer!”

You might well ask why this is any longer important, given that Special Counsel Robert Mueller found there was no collusion and the Inspector General, Michael Horowitz — just before he was sacked — thought the FBI and the Democrats might have been out to, well, just to get the President.

Well, like a lot of things in the sewer of politics, the Downer/Papadopoulos meeting has floated to the surface again, this time with the publication of Malcolm Turnbull’s corona-busting sensation, A Bigger Picture. 

As reported here, it seems that — according to Turnbull — despite being the Australian High Commissioner to Britain, Downer did not have the Australian government’s authority to contact George Papadopoulos and question him about the Trump campaign’s Russian connections or to raise his concerns with the US Embassy in London. According to Turnbull:

 

[Downer] had no authority from Canberra to do this, and the first we heard of it in Australia was when the FBI turned up in London and wanted to interview Downer. We were very reluctant to get dragged into the middle of the US presidential election, but agreed to Downer being interviewed on the basis it was kept confidential and any information he provided was not circulated beyond the FBI.

 

So, there you have it; Malcolm didn’t know about it until the Feds came knocking — and we know whose side they were on. But the question, the real issue is why Downer got involved? That will only come out if there is an enquiry where we put various actors under oath and cross-examine them. Will that happen? Probably not. But there is an old saying: follow the money.

Miranda Devine said in October 2016 that Australia had shovelled at least $88 million into the Clinton Foundation and associated entities from 2006-2014. She also mentions the $300 million that Julia Gillard pumped into the ‘Clinton-affiliated Global Partnership for Education’ of which Julia became chairman in 2014. Then, the Tony Abbott government added another $140 million in 2014.

So, there is some of the money, but what is this close connection all about? Why was Australian taxpayers’ money to the tune of almost half a billion dollars being used to grease the wheels on Clinton’s Washington Express?

And that, it could be argued, is the real reason behind this Commonwealth extravagance. In American parlance, it’s called pay-to-play. Everyone thought that Hillary would be the next President. While she was Secretary of State, you had access if you contributed to her husband’s Foundation so he had some money for his pet projects. But what would happen when Obama left office?

The truth is, that currying favour with the Clintons with a few bits of silver, OK, half a billion bits, was absolutely necessary if you wanted immediate access, first to Hillary when she was Secretary of State and then to President Hillary when she was elected as the first female President. That is what the money was for — pay to play. And it is exempted from the Crimes Act.

Do we know what Downer expected from for his well-intentioned interference on behalf of them and the FBI? Well no. But, we all have some secret desires; and I’m sure appreciation in New York would run deep had he delivered the knock-out punch the Clintons wanted.

But that might still be coming – if he ever finds himself in the company of the President.

Dr David Long is a retired solicitor and economist.

 

 ———————————  

Alexander Downer citation

Chancellor, it gives me great pleasure to present to you Alexander John Gosse Downer.

The Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University (honoris causa) is being awarded to the Honourable Alexander Downer, AC, in acknowledgement of his exceptionally distinguished service to Australian society and to the University.

 

Mr Downer was born in Adelaide in 1951. He was educated at Geelong Grammar in Victoria and, while his father Alick was Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, his education continued at Radley College in Oxford.

 

In the early 1970s he completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Politics and Economics at the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

 

Mr Downer worked as an economist for the Bank of New South Wales, before entering the Australian Diplomatic Service, where he served in the Australian Missions to European Union and NATO, and as an Embassy representative in Belgium and Luxembourg.

From 1982 to '83, he held a senior political advisory role with former Prime Minister the Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser. He then served as the Executive Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce.

 

In 1984, Mr Downer was elected to Federal Parliament as the Liberal Member for the Adelaide Hills-based seat of Mayo. He held this seat until his resignation from Parliament in 2008.

 

During his parliamentary service, Mr Downer was Leader of the Liberal Party and Opposition Leader from 1994 to 1995.

For more than two decades, Mr Downer has dedicated his life to advancing Australia's international relations and foreign policy, with achievements spanning the areas of security, trade and humanitarian aid.

 

Under the leadership of the Honourable John Howard, OM, AC, Mr Downer became Australia’s longest serving Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was Foreign Minister from 1996 to 2007 – a remarkable 11 years, 267 days.

 

One of Mr Downer’s earliest initiatives as Foreign Minister was to work with New Zealand to broker a peace agreement in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, which ended a long-running civil conflict.

 

He played a key role in assisting the United Nations to hold a referendum in East Timor, and in negotiating the entry of the peace keeping force in East Timor.

 

As Foreign Minister he was at the forefront of Australian foreign policy during times of conflict in the Middle East, and global terrorism. He was an active participant and diplomatic force on issues of human rights, climate change and natural disasters.

 

Following his resignation from Parliament, Mr Downer was appointed Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Cyprus from 2008 to 2014. In 2008 he was also appointed as a Visiting Professor of Politics and International Trade here at the University of Adelaide.

In conjunction with the University of Adelaide, Mr Downer established the Sir John Downer Oration in 2012 as a biennial public lecture in honour of his grandfather. Sir John was a notable South Australian, twice elected Premier of South Australia, and in 1901 he became one of the first South Australian senators in the Federal Parliament. Among those to deliver the Sir John Downer Oration are former Prime Minister the Honourable John Howard, former Prime Minister the Honourable Tony Abbott MP, and former Minister for Foreign Affairs the Honourable Julie Bishop MP.

 

In 2014, Mr Downer was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom – the same position his father once held in the 1960s and '70s. After finishing his term as High Commissioner, Mr Downer has joined King’s College, London, as Executive Chairman of the International School of Government.

 

Mr Downer has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia, and holds a Doctorate of Civil Laws (honoris causa) from the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

In recognition of his many contributions and achievements, Mr Downer was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001. In 2013 he was named a Companion of the Order of Australia – for his eminent service to parliament through the advancement of international relations and foreign policy, particularly in the areas of security, trade and humanitarian aid.

 

Chancellor, I am very pleased and proud to present to you the Honourable Alexander John Gosse Downer, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Politics and Economics, Companion of the Order of Australia, for admission to the Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University (honoris causa).

  https://www.adelaide.edu.au/records/system/files/media/documents/2019-05/Alexander_Downer.pdf  ————————————  Alexander Downer: the Australian blue blood accused of being an anti-Trump 'spy'

Conservative monarchist who led the charge to have Australia join the second Iraq war is now bizarrely at the centre of an alt-right conspiracy

 

t’s hard to actually be surprised by a political narrative these days, but Alexander Downer allegedly being a secret leftist spy is one conspiracy that manages to spark mirth, even as the world is burning.

On the political spectrum, Downer, who holds the titles for Australia’s longest serving foreign affairs minister and shortest serving leader of the country’s main conservative party, sits slightly to the right of Margaret Thatcher.

 

But a night of drinking at the Kensington Wine Rooms in London in May 2016, with a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign, George Papadopoulos, suddenly had Downer marked as a “spy” and “Clinton errand boy” by Trump supporters, spurred on by Papadopoulos, who claimed Downer had been placed there to help bring him, and Trump, down.

The chief executive of the United States Study Centre in Australia, Simon Jackman, called the leftist spy conspiracy “ridiculous”.

“In the United States, and you see this consistently, from the New York Times and the Washington Post down to Fox News, Alexander Downer is referred to as ‘an Australian diplomat’ – hardly anyone in the United States understands he was a former leader of the conservative party in Australia,” he said.

“Occasionally, they’ll refer to him as the leader of the ‘Liberal’ party, but there is almost a wilful ignorance of his role in Australian conservative politics. I think that is because it serves that Trump counter-narrative quite well, where a lot of mud is being thrown in absolutely every direction.”

For a proud monarchist, who would have dyed his blood blue if possible, such is Downer’s distaste of Australia’s political left and the red-branded Labor party that being labelled a leftist conspirator would hurt almost as much as being deliberately snubbed by the Queen. Maybe more.

 

I have been right about Downer from the beginning. A wannabe spy and Clinton errand boy who is about to get exposed on the world stage. Great reporting, NYTs! Mifsud is next.— George Papadopoulos (GeorgePapa19) September 30, 2019

 

The FBI reportedly launched its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election after Papadopoulos told Downer that Moscow had damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

According to a report published by the New York Times, Papadopoulos made the revelation to Downer, the Australian high commissioner to the UK, “during a night of heavy drinking”. Papadopoulos reportedly told Downer that Russian officials possessed thousands of emails that could harm Clinton’s candidacy.

 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/04/alexander-downer-the-australian-blue-blood-accused-of-being-an-anti-trump-spy   ——————————  

The Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery has won a prestigious British free speech prize for his efforts exposing a secret Australian operation to bug Timor-Leste’s fledgling government during sensitive oil and gas negotiations.

Collaery is still being pursued by the Australian government through the criminal courts and, if convicted, the barrister and former ACT attorney general faces jail for allegedly sharing protected intelligence information.

 

The charge stems from an episode during which Collaery, who frequently acted for intelligence officers, represented an Australian spy known as Witness K, who had grown increasingly concerned about a 2004 mission to bug the government offices of Timor-Leste during commercial negotiations with Australia, an ally, to carve up the resource-rich Timor Sea.

The actions of Witness K and Collaery helped Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest nations, take a case to the international courts and, eventually, renegotiate a fairer deal.

 Now, Collaery has been recognised with the International Blueprint for Free Speech Whistleblowing prize, which recognises the bravery and integrity of whistleblowers who have made a positive impact in the public interest. Previous winners of Blueprint for Free Speech awards include Chelsea Manning, who won while behind bars in 2016 at a maximum security prison in Kansas, and Nick Martin, the doctor who blew the whistle on Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers on Nauru. 

Collaery will share £12,000 in prize money with another winner, Sally Masterton, a former Lloyds Banking Group employee who revealed a failure to act on evidence of fraud.

Collaery told the Guardian he was honoured to win the prize.

“I’m honoured and privileged and I’m going to dedicate the award to funding a granddaughter of mine through years 11 and 12,” he said.

“The rule of law, I learned from my years in Cambridge, has been more securely protected there than it is in Australia, and I’m deeply grateful that the award has come from Britain, a country my father died, as an Australian, protecting.”

One of the judges, Lady Hollick, an award-winning former investigative television journalist, described Collaery’s story as “extraordinary”.

She said it showed the dangers posed to those who told the truth about the Timor-Leste scandal.

“It’s a story of spies, international espionage and corporate greed,” she said. “One of the richest countries in the Asia Pacific spied on and betrayed one of the poorest.

  Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/03/witness-k-lawyer-bernard-collaery-wins-international-free-speech-whistleblower-prize  ————————————— CENTENARY MEDAL 

The Centenary Medal commemorates 100 years of federation and acknowledges the challenges of the new century by recognising citizens and other people who made a contribution to Australian society or government.

HISTORY

The Prime Minister announced the Centenary Medal on 28 December 2001. It is the third specifically Australian commemorative award.

In the past, Australia received quotas in royal commemorative awards to mark coronations and jubilees. The most recent royal award of this kind was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal 1977.

The Centenary Medal acknowledges those who contributed to the success of Australia’s first hundred years as a federal nation. The award recognises the many Australians who laid solid foundations for the nation’s future.

The Centenary Medal was formally introduced by Letters Patent on 14 February 2001. The medal is now only open to centenarians (see information below). 

RECIPIENTS

Leonie Walker  was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001

 Read more: https://pmc.gov.au/government/its-honour/centenary-medal