Witness K spared jail for Timor spy leak

The former Australian spy has been handed a three-month suspended sentence for disclosing classified information, with the court finding he was motivated by justice and not personal gain.

Protesters gather at Australian parliament before Witness K sentencing in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

The former Australian spy known as Witness K has been handed a three-month suspended sentence for disclosing classified information, with a court finding he was motivated by justice and not personal gain.

The former Australian Secret Intelligence Officer and his ­lawyer Bernard Collaery were first charged in 2018.

That was five years after their Canberra homes were raided following claims of an Australian spying operation against East Timor in 2004, as the two countries negotiated oil and gas ­resources in the Timor Sea.

Witness K made the disclosures in the form of two affidavits in 2013, after East Timor accused Australia of failing to negotiate in “good faith” and of initiating an alleged spying operation.

Both Witness K and Mr Collaery were charged with a single count of conspiring to share ­secret information, with Mr Collaery choosing to fight his conspiracy charge and Witness K pleading guilty to his charge on Thursday.

Appearing in Canberra Magistrates Court on Friday, Witness K was handed a suspended sentence “in order to send a message to others”.

Magistrate Glenn Theakston said Witness K “appeared to be motivated by justice”.

Mr Theakston added that the offence was not trivial, saying “it cannot and should not be up to former staff members to unilaterally depart from those security obligations”. However the court concluded that Witness K’s disclosures were an attempt to “participate in the rules-based order of international relations”.