Piers Akerman: Malcolm Turnbull silent on fate of hapless ‘spy’

AUSTRALIAN filmmaker James Ricketson has been in a Cambodian prison since his arrest in June on vague allegations he was engaged in spying. So why haven’t PM Malcolm Turnbull or Foreign Minister Julie Bishop done anything about it, Piers Akerman writes.

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, 68, has been charged with endangering national security in Cambodia. Picture: AP Photo/Heng Sinith

AUSTRALIAN filmmaker James Ricketson has been in a Cambodian prison since his arrest in June on vague allegations he was engaged in spying.

Ricketson, whom I met at the home of mutual friends four or five years ago, is no stranger to controversy.

He has a long history of ­activism and there’s no doubt he’s been a gadfly to bureaucracies in NSW, but I doubt whether he’s an Australian spy, despite the sometimes knuckleheaded manner in which our foreign affairs department and spying agencies operate.

Even his friends are divided in their views, agreeing only that he is “a very complicated person” who is inclined to plunge into situations of which he has little knowledge and take actions with no thought for the consequences.

None of which makes him a spy, of course.

Last week he sent me a letter in which he outlined his current plight.

“You are a man of strong opinions,” he wrote.

Aussie James Ricketson (middle) was refused bail in Cambodia. Picture: AP Photo/Heng Sinith

“So, too, am I. Though our opinions on many things may differ, we are fortunate indeed to live in a liberal democracy in which the marketplace of ideas is open to all and sundry. Freedom of speech, freedom to be critical of the Cambodian government, do not exist in which is now essentially a one-party state.

“I have spent eight months in jail so far for doing nothing more, as a journalist/filmmaker, than ­express opinions not to the liking of the government.

“There is no evidence at all I have been engaged in espionage for 22 years and this fact is now well-known to the Australian government.

“Despite its sure knowledge of my innocence neither (Prime Minister) Turnbull nor (Foreign Minister) Bishop will utter a peep in protest on my behalf.

“The government’s bilateral ­relationship with Cambodia being more important than the wellbeing of an Australian journalist/filmmaker.”

His adopted daughter, Roxanne, who was a street person when Ricketson took her under his wing, is frustrated at what she sees as a total lack of government support for her father. His natural son, Jesse, has been more cautious, hoping the government is in backroom talks with Cambodian authorities.

James Ricketson said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have not come forward to help him. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

There is no doubt both are gravely concerned for the 68-year-old, pointing out that he is in poor health and is held in one of the world’s most notorious prisons, in a cell with 130 to 150 other men.

There appears no doubt that Ricketson is being victimised by the Hun Sen regime because he had contacts within the now-banned Cambodian opposition.

Last week, both Ricketson and the leader of the disbanded opposition party Cambodia ­National Rescue Party (CNRP),  Kem Sokha, were refused bail in a show of strength by Hun Sen’s court system, which has been criticised by the International Commission of Jurists for its lack of impartial judges and prosecutors.

Hun Sen, a former commander under the murderous Khmer Rouge, is the world’s longest serving prime minister and a testament to the ruthless manner in which he has held on to power since first rising to the position in 1985.

A year ago, on his instruction, the National Assembly voted unanimously to abolish the positions of Minority and Majority leader, undermining any influence the opposition party retained, he then banned opposition questioning of ministers and disbanded the CNRP.

Ricketson, who was caught operating a drone over a CNRP rally, was close to members of the CNRP and has been caught in the fallout.

Australia is one of the biggest aid donors to the corrupt Cambodian government with an estimated $87.4 million earmarked for programs in the Third World country in the current financial year.

In 2014, Australia struck a $55-million aid deal with Cambodia which was hoped would see people-smuggler clients from Nauru go to the Asian ­nation. At last report, just three people took up the offer.

By any measure, Australian taxpayers have given a lot of money to a dodgy government and have not received much in return. Not for the first time, ­either. We still give the Palestinian Authority millions and it pays out cash to the families of convicted terrorists.

A few days ago, the Foreign Minister was glamming it up with the Hollywood crowd at the G’day USA gala in Los Angeles. Given the movie stars present, it was an event guaranteed to garner publicity, and had any of the luvvies, let alone Ms Bishop, chosen to remark on the plight of Ricketson — who ­attended the Australian Film School in its first year — there would have been considerable international attention.

But there was no mention of the ageing auteur, no demonstration, no direction to the petition at change.org headed julie-bishop-act-now-to-bringjamesricketsonhome-or-my-innocent-father-will-die-in-jail.

Unfortunately, James Ricketson is not a celebrity. He doesn’t have a television head as did former Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste, who was banged up by the Egyptians who didn’t approve of the Qatari-owned network’s anti-US and pro-terrorist stance. Greste was freed after pressure was ­applied internationally by the Australian government. Nor is he a Schapelle Corby or a member of a Bali drug-pushing gang.

He is not media savvy. He is unlikely to ever grace a Melbourne Cup marquee, nor be ­invited to the ultimate haven for Australian virtue signallers, the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge.

He’s just a quixotic bloke, quite misguided at times, who rather recklessly believes he can help people if he gets directly involved. Now he is the one in need of help, for he faces the possibility of years in prison before he may even get to trial.

He’s as surely serving a life sentence as any of the druggies in Kerobokan jail.

Where are you, Malcolm Turnbull? Where are you, Julie Bishop? This Aussie needs a hand.