The interesting ABC documentary on Colonel Spry and ASIO, the Australian security organisation, contained a front page newspaper picture of Sergeant Greg Ryall of the Northern Territory Police with a beefy forearm around the throat of a Russian KGB gorilla at Darwin Airport in the dramatic Petrov Affair. ASIO compiled thousands of files on people -unionists, journalists,activists , politicians , public servants - anybody who spoke out about the establishment, it seems.
Many individuals , men and women, in the Territory were watched. Little Darwin has seen ASIO files in which the names of journalists at the NT News who received the communist newspaper,The Tribune, were listed . One ASIO report ,covering a meeting in Darwin , said a person had cheekily asked who was the ASIO representative at the gathering that evening. Waterfront workers received extensive attention from ASIO in bygone days .
It is unlikely that a man who has been allegedly "spying " on Darwin waterfront toilers of late is a member of the modern ASIO. Like something out of Get Smart, this person has been reported " hiding " behind trees,leading to him being dubbed Agent 13, Maxwell's Smart's unfortunate buddy who was always inside unlikely places such as cigarette machines, washing machines, trash cans ,fire hydrants and even disguised as a tree.
One local Get Smart fan says the guy doing all the eyeballing on the waterfront looks more like the evil KAOS character, Shtarker, Siegfried's over -zealous lackey with an abrupt personality. As a result of his activities ,there has been a name change for Darwin -Little Dubai.
DUBAI, YOU WILL RECALL, WAS WHERE HOWARD GOVERNMENT FINANCED SCABS WERE TRAINED TO TAKE THE JOBS OF AUSTRALIAN WATERFRONT WORKERS IN MELBOURNE. MILD MANNERED , TEA DRINKING, ROLL- YOUR- OWN BARRISTER , JULIAN BURNSIDE; ACTU SECRETARY , GREG COMBET, A BREEDER OF CAGE BIRDS, NOW A CRACKER POLLIE , AND FEISTY MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA BOSS, JOHN COOMBS , WERE KEY PLAYERS IN THAT EPIC 1998 CLASH, CALLED THE BATTLE THAT CHANGED AUSTRALIA.
Many individuals , men and women, in the Territory were watched. Little Darwin has seen ASIO files in which the names of journalists at the NT News who received the communist newspaper,The Tribune, were listed . One ASIO report ,covering a meeting in Darwin , said a person had cheekily asked who was the ASIO representative at the gathering that evening. Waterfront workers received extensive attention from ASIO in bygone days .
It is unlikely that a man who has been allegedly "spying " on Darwin waterfront toilers of late is a member of the modern ASIO. Like something out of Get Smart, this person has been reported " hiding " behind trees,leading to him being dubbed Agent 13, Maxwell's Smart's unfortunate buddy who was always inside unlikely places such as cigarette machines, washing machines, trash cans ,fire hydrants and even disguised as a tree.
One local Get Smart fan says the guy doing all the eyeballing on the waterfront looks more like the evil KAOS character, Shtarker, Siegfried's over -zealous lackey with an abrupt personality. As a result of his activities ,there has been a name change for Darwin -Little Dubai.
DUBAI, YOU WILL RECALL, WAS WHERE HOWARD GOVERNMENT FINANCED SCABS WERE TRAINED TO TAKE THE JOBS OF AUSTRALIAN WATERFRONT WORKERS IN MELBOURNE. MILD MANNERED , TEA DRINKING, ROLL- YOUR- OWN BARRISTER , JULIAN BURNSIDE; ACTU SECRETARY , GREG COMBET, A BREEDER OF CAGE BIRDS, NOW A CRACKER POLLIE , AND FEISTY MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA BOSS, JOHN COOMBS , WERE KEY PLAYERS IN THAT EPIC 1998 CLASH, CALLED THE BATTLE THAT CHANGED AUSTRALIA.
There are other fascinating Territory angles to the documentary , but they will have to wait until another day when we have time to look through (find) our musty files.
