As the Albanese government grapples with the aftermath of the nation’s worst act of terrorism at Bondi Beach, previously secret cabinet documents reveal the Howard government was working to mitigate concerns about a “homegrown” terrorist threat two decades ago.
Hundreds of records from 2005 have been made public in the National Archives’ annual release, showing the Howard government sought to work with Australia’s Muslim community to prevent the radicalisation of young people.
The concerns came after a spate of global terror attacks by Islamic extremists: four years after September 11, three years after the 2002 Bali bombings and during the same year as the 2005 Bali bombings and London bombings.
Phillip Ruddock was attorney-general at the time with a seat at the cabinet table.
“It was the most difficult period that we had experienced for decades,” Mr Ruddock said, speaking five days before the Bondi terror attack.
“We needed to be ensuring that terrorism was effectively prosecuted and dealt with, but we needed to be able to ensure that Australians of different races, different cultures, different religions would function as one.”
Philip Ruddock was the attorney-general in 2005 and had previously been the immigration minister. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
In a submission to cabinet, the multicultural affairs minister at the time, John Cobb, said the London bombings were perpetrated by “mainly locally born and raised young Muslims”.
Mr Cobb said the bombings highlighted “potential for … radicalisation” within parts of culturally diverse Western societies, such as Australia.
“Recent analyses of the situation of the Muslim community in Australia have shown some parallels with that in Europe,” the submission said.
“Highlighting Muslim isolation and alienation, continuing levels of racism and discrimination, the complexity of the Muslim community and its failure so far to create a coherent Australian Muslim identity.”
That year, research was commissioned to examine pathways into extremism.
“Appeals to extremism are increased in those cases when some young Muslims face exclusion both from wider society and conventional leadership roles within their communities,” Mr Cobb said.
John Howard and his wife Janette Howard visit Louise Barry, an Australian who was injured in the London suicide bombings. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia)
The documents showed efforts underway at the time to create a greater sense of inclusion among young Muslim Australians.
In 2005, the government also expanded anti-terrorism law enforcement powers.
While the concerns raised in Mr Cobb’s submission were not linked to antisemitism, as was seen during the Bondi terror attack, they highlight similarities between the national security challenges faced by the Howard government in 2005 and the current Albanese government.
In the wake of the Bondi tragedy, the federal government has announced a review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to assess whether they have appropriate powers and processes.
Deep racial tensions
The cabinet documents also outline potential risks during times of heightened political and social tension.
“Our national security in these troubled times depends on Australia’s continued domestic harmony,” the submission from Mr Cobb said.
Mr Cobb highlighted that “recent terrorist attacks and other violence have caused a community reaction against specific religious and ethnic groups”.
The Cronulla riots broke out at the end of 2005 and exposed deep racial tensions. (AAP: Paul Miller)
Mr Cobb’s submission came one day after violent race riots broke out in the beachside suburb of Cronulla, in Sydney’s south.
While they were incited by a fight between surf lifesavers and young men of Middle Eastern background a week earlier, the riots exposed deep racial tensions.
Retaliation attacks led by Middle Eastern Australians added to the violence over two days of unrest.
Controversial industrial relations reforms pass
Tensions also brewed in 2005 over industrial relations reforms, with the government looking to pass its controversial WorkChoices legislation.
At the time, the Howard government was at the peak of its power, with a majority in the House of Representatives, before gaining control of the Senate that year.
A submission from the workplace relations minister at the time, Kevin Andrews, said the reforms needed to free up the labour market had previously been blocked by the Senate.
“Now the government has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put in place a contemporary workplace relations system,” Mr Andrews’s submission said.
Then-opposition leader Kim Beazley attends a Transport Workers Union protest against proposed industrial relations changes in 2005. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia)
But the minister also warned the cabinet that a backlash was expected.
“These reforms are likely to elicit strong opposition from unions and state governments,” the submission said.
“However, employers have been actively agitating for reform and will react positively.”
The reforms were pursued, and they passed parliament later that year.
“I think they thought that support from the business community would override the backlash and criticism from the trade union movement,” cabinet historian David Lee said.
“As it turned out, the government didn’t get the support they wanted from the business community and the campaign by the unions proved to be very successful.”
Mr Lee said the trade unions’ campaign against WorkChoices was “the prime cause” of the Coalition’s election defeat in 2007, when even John Howard lost his seat.
Immigration returns to the spotlight
In 2005, immigration under the Howard government returned to the spotlight following the unlawful detention of dual citizen Cornelia Rau.
In February, then-immigration minister Amanda Vanstone announced an inquiry into Ms Rau’s detention, led by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer.
Cornelia Rau was unlawfully detained for 10 months in 2004-05 as part of the federal government’s mandatory detention program. (ABC TV)
It was later expanded to investigate the wrongful deportation of another dual national, Vivian Solon, to the Philippines.
The inquiry found a serious cultural problem within parts of the immigration department, and the cabinet agreed to accept the broad thrust of Mr Palmer’s findings.
“Indeed, there was no alternative; the criticism was deserved,” a cabinet submission by Ms Vanstone said.
John Howard and Amanda Vanstone speak at a press conference about the release of the Palmer Report. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia)
The senator put forward sweeping changes and called for an additional $186 million over five years to ensure cultural change within the department.
“Implementing this change will require a substantial investment, but the level of criticism leaves little choice but to do so,” Ms Vanstone said.
Mr Ruddock was the immigration minister before becoming attorney-general in 2003.
“Ensuring we were able to control borders was essential to ensuring we helped those refugees who needed help most,” he said.
“One of the faults of the Howard government was that, in looking so closely at budget expenditure, a lot of initiatives that should have been put in place to better handle the large number of unauthorised arrivals were overlooked,” Mr Ruddock said.
Strengthening bilateral relationships
Also in 2005, Australia stepped in to help one of its nearest neighbours, providing aid to Indonesia, which was still reeling from the 2004 tsunami, and in the process healing a troubled relationship.
But strengthening other bilateral relationships was also front of mind.
John Howard visits Australian soldiers doing tsunami-related relief work. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia)
Amid escalating violence in Afghanistan and a resurgence of the Taliban, the US requested that Australia consider deploying special forces.
Robert Hill, who was the defence minister at the time, advised the National Security Committee (NSC) that an appropriately based Australian contribution “may enhance our already strong relationships with the US and the United Kingdom” as well as develop the relationship with NATO.
The NSC agreed to Mr Hill’s submission to deploy a special forces task group to operate for up to 12 months, but the SAS would stay for years in what became 20 rotations involving 3,000 personnel.
Mr Hill put forward proposals to reform Australia’s military justice system within a 2005 cabinet submission, which included replacing courts martial with an independent Australian military court and setting up a joint Australian Defence Force investigations unit.
Former ADF chief General Angus Campbell delivered the findings from the Afghanistan Inquiry in November 2020. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
More than a decade later, a landmark inquiry would find credible information about war crimes committed by defence force personnel in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
Pandemic foreshadowed
Cabinet documents also showed the Howard government was preparing for a possible influenza pandemic 15 years before COVID-19 hit.
One submission by the foreign minister at the time, Alexander Downer, warned of the “significant risk” that H5N1 avian influenza could mutate into a virus easily transmissible between humans.
Cabinet submissions warned about the threat of pandemics 15 years before COVID-19 would confront Scott Morrison’s government. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
“Leading to a global influenza pandemic with potentially devastating consequences for Australia and the world,” the submission said.
“Australia’s domestic planning is advanced. But we should take account of the international dimensions of the pandemic threat.”
Despite that preparedness, COVID-19 would go on to devastate the Australian economy.
“I suppose the dimensions of that [COVID-19] pandemic took the Morrison government by surprise and some of the policies of Commonwealth and state governments weren’t as good as they could have been,” Mr Lee said.
Early evidence of climate wars
There was early evidence of the climate wars in 2005, with documents showing the adoption of nuclear energy being discussed as a way to reduce carbon emissions.
The government was also subject to persistent criticism of climate policy, particularly from the Treasury.
Previously secret cabinet documents show nuclear energy was discussed as a way of reducing carbon emissions in 2005. (Reuters: Fabian Bimmer)
“There is growing realisation among business that the current policy approach to climate change is not sustainable and is creating increased uncertainty,” comments from the Treasury within a cabinet submission said.
“Which is potentially hampering investment in Australia.”
The Howard government would go on to champion an emissions trading scheme at the 2007 election.
