"Australian airport whistleblower found guilty"

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Airport whistleblower guilty
By Simon Kearney 
The Australian


A FORMER Customs officer faces up to two years in prison after being found
guilty of leaking a classified report that led to the biggest overhaul of
airport security in the nation's history.

Allan Robert Kessing, 59, sat motionless as the verdict was read yesterday,
after three days of deliberation by the jury, shortly after 5pm in Sydney's
Downing Centre District Court. 

Afterwards, Crown prosecutor Lincoln Crowley said that a prison term was "on
the cards". 

Judge James Bennett bailed Mr Kessing - who had left Customs by the time the
report was leaked - to appear on May 25 for sentencing. 

Mr Kessing's barrister Peter Lowe told the court he planned to argue that
his client's actions were vindicated by the Wheeler report into aviation
security - an unprecedented review prompted by the leaked information, which
was published by The Australian. 

The journalists - Martin Chulov and Jonathan Porter - have never revealed
their sources and did not give evidence. 

Outside court, Mr Lowe said the case was a matter of public importance that
had attracted little attention. 

"One of the things that will be very important will be how beneficial the
leak of the information was about security for Sydney airport and everyone
who travels through it," Mr Lowe said. "The Wheeler report will vindicate in
a substantial degree the fact that the leak itself, the contents of the
reports that were leaked, had a very significant beneficial effect." 

The report of former British transport chief John Wheeler in September 2005
was prompted by articles in The Australian warning of flaws in airport
security, organised crime at Sydney airport and surveillance black spots. 

Sir John's report prompted the federal Government to spend $200million
establishing airport police commands and boosting Customs surveillance. 

Mr Lowe said the leak had been vindicated by a number of arrests for cocaine
smuggling. 

"Ultimately, after the reports were communicated by Martin Chulov and
Jonathan Porter in The Australian, it was then that the public in Australia
at this time found out what was happening at Sydney airport," he said. 

Mr Kessing, a member of the Customs Air Border Security Unit until his
resignation on May 10, 2005, refused to comment after he was found guilty of
the unlawful disclosure of information by a former commonwealth officer. 

Mr Crowley told the court that a deterrent might be needed as Mr Kessing's
case was more serious than a recent Victorian case relating to leaked
information - for which journalists Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus face
prison terms. 

Directing the jury, Judge Bennett had described the evidence as
circumstantial but told them not to take into account the public interest
argument. 

In messages to Judge Bennett, the seven men and five women of the jury said
they had trouble coming to a verdict and asked more than half a dozen
questions. 

The editor of The Australian, Paul Whittaker, said there was an urgent need
for a public interest defence for public service whistleblowers at the
federal level. 

"Rather than prosecuting people such as this, they should be giving them a
medal," he said. 

The Australian Customs Service and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock refused
to comment.

 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************