Australia annoyed as U.S. pushes Wuhan lab COVID-19 theory

Source: Reuters
May 8 2020

Washington’s attack on China has given Beijing room to argue that Australia’s request for an independent inquiry is part of a U.S.-led agenda to blame it for the coronavirus outbreak, the sources said.

Canberra has been caught in a diplomatic squeeze between Washington, its main security ally, and already strained relations with Beijing, it major trading partner, even as its successful handling of the coronavirus has it planning to reopen the economy.

One government source said that officials were working hard to cast the review as open-minded and global, and that the American approach of “let’s get China” wasn’t helping.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, responding to criticisms about whether an inquiry would hurt trade with China, sought to underscore Australia’s independence during an interview on ABC radio on Friday.

“We’re not doing this as some sort of lapdog of the United States,” he said. “You’ll see there are some marked differences between some of the things that the Australian Government has said and some of the commentary coming out of the United States and that’s because we take our own analysis, our own evidence, our own advice and we will take this issue through to the World Health Assembly.”

China’s foreign ministry has said the calls for an inquiry are “political manipulation” and said Australia should “give up its ideological prejudices”.

DOSSIER

Last weekend, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper said a “dossier prepared by concerned Western governments” showed China had deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak.

The report was published shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had seen evidence the coronavirus came from a laboratory in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global outbreak.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said there was “a significant amount of evidence” the virus came from the Wuhan laboratory, although he has also said there wasn’t certainty.

Government and intelligence officials said the document the article referred to was a compilation of public reports and newspaper articles, and was not based on intelligence sources.

“It’s a research paper. I can tell you, we aren’t paying much attention to it,” an intelligence source said.

No public evidence has linked the outbreak to the lab in Wuhan, and scientists have said the coronavirus appears to have developed in nature.

Australia shares intelligence with the United States under the “Five Eyes” arrangement which also includes Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

An official familiar with the 15-page document cited in the article told Reuters it was American, appeared to be designed to gather support for the U.S. position, and wasn’t a piece of intelligence work.

The document included bullet points describing ways in which China hadn’t been transparent in dealing with the coronavirus, sourced to newspaper articles and other claims already in the public domain, the official said.

There was no input from Australian agencies into the document, the source said.

Australian media have reported concerns that the U.S. embassy in Canberra may have been the source of the document. The U.S. embassy declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

“The Australians are pushing for reform at the World Health Assembly; this doesn’t help those efforts. You can understand their frustration,” said one Western diplomat, who declined to be named as the diplomat, like the other government and intelligence sources, is not authorised to talk to the media.

TENSE TIES

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly said that he has seen no evidence to support the theory the virus came from a lab, and that the most likely source was a wildlife market in Wuhan. He said the goal was to know how to prevent another outbreak.

“It’s not directed at anyone, we just want to know what happened so it doesn’t happen again,” Morrison said on Friday, when asked whether the U.S. focus on the Wuhan lab theory was counterproductive.

“It’s a pretty honest question, with an honest intent and an honest motive. And I’m seeing more and more support for that position,” he said, referring to Australia’s goals.

Morrison wrote to G20 leaders this week seeking support for an independent inquiry. The European Union will raise the issue at the World Health Assembly this month.

Australia hopes that if there is wide international support for an independent investigation, China will cooperate.

But China is Australia’s largest trading partner, and an already fraught diplomatic relationship has become more strained by the push for an inquiry.

China’s ambassador warned last month that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian products, which the government said was a threat of economic coercion.

Australian media lost independence in hyping up so-called intelligence report: expert

Source: Global Times

May 3 2020

Western media outlets, particularly those in Australia, have lost their self-proclaimed journalistic professionalism and independence, as they rushed to hype up an unverified "Five Eyes" intelligence report that clearly seeks to smear China's handlining of the coronavirus outbreak, a Chinese expert said on Sunday.

The latest development out of Australia could also further exacerbate rising tensions between China and Australia over the latter's call for an investigation into China's handling of COVID-19, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Australian media, in hyping up such an unverifiable research dossier to smear China, has lost journalistic professionalism and objectivity. Some Australian media reports are always full of ideological bias against China and show their lack of confidence," Li said.

The Daily Telegraph, an Australian media outlet, reported on Saturday that it learned from an investigation dossier by the Five Eyes intelligence agencies that China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak in an "assault on international transparency."

The report said that the 15-page research document they obtained showed that the Chinese government covered up news of the virus, destroyed evidence of it in its laboratories and denied of human-to-human transmission.

After the Daily Telegraph report, other Western media outlets also joined in hyping up the so-called dossier. But US intelligence is not confirming the existence of the 15-page document, US media outlet Fox News reported on Sunday.

The Five Eyes alliance consists of intelligence agencies from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

"Even if there was such a dossier, the Five Eyes alliance was established for the political aim of the five countries. Its investigation reports will only meet their political demands, instead of scientific truth," Li said.

Chinese officials have repeatedly criticized some western media and politicians for playing up the so-called "China concealing the epidemic" theory, calling such efforts are attempt to cover up their own failures in containing the virus in their countries.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has already provided specific timelines detailing the main facts about China's timely release of information on the epidemic, sharing of experiences on prevention and control, and promoting international cooperation on the prevention and control of COVID-19 since the end of December.

It has also reiterated on many occasions that China always upholds an open, transparent and responsible attitude on the prevention and control of COVID-19. China also immediately reported COVID-19 to the World Health Organization (WHO), shared the gene sequence of the novel coronavirus with other countries, and carried out cooperation with the international community on prevention and control of the pandemic, officials have noted.

Some Western accusations against China over the COVID-19 even run counter to the findings of the WHO and even public statements from their own officials.

The WHO sated on Friday that COVID-19 was natural in origin, after having listened again and again to numerous scientists, who have looked at the sequences, analyzing the virus.

The US Intelligence Community also concurs with the scientific consensus that COVID-19 was not manmade or genetically modified, according to a statement issued by the office of the Director of National Intelligence of the US on its website on Friday.

Also, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, when asked about US President Donald Trump's statement that "the novel coronavirus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan," said he did not see strong evidence to prove this on May 1.

However, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Western countries, some media and politicians have continued to accuse China of concealing the pandemic and has even associated the novel coronavirus with a lab in Wuhan.

Li noted that Australia and some other Western countries made a fatal mistake in their handling of the pandemic and now seek to blame the WHO and China for their failure to fight the outbreak.

According to data released by Johns Hopkins University in the US, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US has reached over 1,133,000 as of 1 pm on Sunday. The UK has about 183,500 reported cases, Canada has nearly 58,000 cases, Australia has 6,799 cases and New Zealand has 1,478 cases.

The latest report in Australia media also came as China and Australia are engaged in a war of words over the latter's call for a so-called independent investigation into the global response to the coronavirus, including China's early response to the outbreak in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province.

Chinese officials have harshly criticized the move. In an interview with NBC news on Tuesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said that China is open to an honest international investigation and scientific exchanges among scientists.

What the Chinese side opposes is putting China in the dock without any evidence, presuming guilt in advance and then seeking evidence through so-called international investigations, Le said, adding that it is well known that so called "information" from the US intelligence community has caused many disasters to the world.

Australian media said that the Five Eyes dossier also showed that the Chinese ambassador to Australia carried out economic coercion on Australia and that China has blocked the international community in launching an independent investigation into the source of the virus.

"Some Australian media and political elites have lost their independent judgment of the country's overall interests and have adopted a US-led approach to smearing China over COVID-19. They are hurting the profound friendship between the two peoples and the common interests that have long coalesced," said Li, the expert.

Facebook photos for spy files

Attorney-General George Brandis. Picture: AAP

Πηγή: The West Australian
By Nick Butterly
30 Oct 2015

Facebook pictures and images from State driver’s licences and passports could be collected in a Federal database to help police and spies find their targets.

Privacy advocates have rung the alarm bell over the plan, warning it smacks of a nightmarish science fiction plot that could ultimately lead to Australians being monitored wherever they go.

During a recent Senate hearing, officials from the Attorney-General’s Department gave an update on the system National Facial Biometric Matching Capability.

The department hopes to gather all passport photos in government databases as well as State driver’s licence pictures for a gargantuan repository of images of Australians.

The photographs could then be run through facial recognition programs to find subjects of interest.

Under questioning, bureaucrats admitted that social media images could be “scraped” from the web and sucked into the database. “It is possible that still images out of those kinds of environments which you talk about could be put into the system,” Attorney-General’s department official Andrew Rice told the hearing.

“That will be a choice for the users of the system, and their making that choice will be on the basis of their existing legal permissions.”

Department experts were unable to say how serious a crime would need to be to allow police or agencies to use the database to search for a suspect.

“Will you be able to chase down a litterer, for example,” Greens WA senator Scott Ludlam asked officials.

Attorney-General George Brandis told the hearing the Government needed no legislation to create the system.

Senator Ludlam questioned what safeguards would be in place to ensure the system was not abused. “The National Facial Recognition Database — referred to internally by the ominous title “the capability” apparently without any sense of irony — is the next step in our self-proclaimed freedom-loving Government’s project to make a dystopian sci-fi surveillance state a reality in Australia,” he said.

The hearing was told the only other country that had attempted to compile so many images of citizens from different sources was Brazil. Officials said the program they were building was more “complex” than those administered even by giant US agencies such as the FBI.

Australia Wants To Cut Out US Dollar In Trade With China

Pictured are bank notes denominated in the Australian dollar and Chinese yuan.

Πηγή: IBT
By Ryan Villarrea
March 29 2013

Australia is seeking to bypass trading in U.S. dollars with China in an effort to avoid the commercial uncertainties that come with the recent fluctuations in the greenback. For example, just a half a year ago, the dollar traded at about $1.20 to the euro; by February, it had weakened to $1.34 per euro and now it is going for $1.27.

Eliminating the dollar in trade will be the focus of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s trip to Beijing next week. Trade with China, Australia’s primary trading partner, totaled $120 billion in the last fiscal year. China buys nearly one-third of Australian exports.

"The value of such a deal would be substantial for exporters to China, especially those that import a lot from China, like mining companies, as it would remove business constraints including exchange-rate risks and transaction costs," said Australia’s former ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, according to the Australian.

The Australian government has made no secret of its aims to shift away trade from the U.S. dollar, the world’s primary reserve currency used in international commerce.

A government report, titled “Australia in the Asian Century,” discusses Canberra’s efforts to establish direct trading between the Australian dollar and the Chinese renminbi, or RMB, also referred to as the yuan. It also pushes for increasing the prominence of the RMB as a global reserve currency.

“We have held preliminary discussions with the Chinese government to explore how soon direct convertibility can be practicably achieved,” the October 2012 report reads. “We are continuing these discussions, and also exploring other opportunities to work with China to support the internationalization of the RMB.”

Canberra’s aims to build on a $30 billion currency-swap deal with China signed last year that makes funds available for business transactions between the two countries through their respective state-run banks.

The report described the deal as “one of the largest such swaps China has entered into.”

Gillard will meet with the recently elevated Chinese leaders, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, as she marks her first official visit to their country as prime minister and sets the tone for bilateral ties with Beijing.

Australia's former prime minister Kevin Rudd has already arrived in Beijing where he delivered an address on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region -- ranging from cyberwarfare to North Korean nuclear threats -- at the Chinese military’s National

Australia to boost diplomat presence in China: official

Πηγή: People's Daily
By Xinhua
Oct 20 2011

CANBERRA, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Secretary Dennis Richardson on Thursday said Australia will boost diplomatic presence in China.

Richardson said Australia's representation to China was lagging behind whencomparing to other Western nations, and the Labor government is aware of theproblem.

"If you go back 15 or 20 years, we were leading the pack in terms of representation.We've now fallen off the pack," he told a Senate estimates committee in Canberra onThursday.

"But I believe it is only a matter of time before we have further representation in China.

"I'm not suggesting that will be in the next few months or next year but I think there is anacknowledgement that we are underdone there."

Richardson added that he broadly agrees with the proposition that DFAT's overseasrepresentation is too small, despite small boosts in recent years.

Australia in Libya: Value for money?

Photo, of an F-16 Fighting Falcon involved in the NATO operations in Libya, courtesy of the US Navy

Πηγή: The Interpreter
By James Brown

Oct 19 2011

Today marks seven months since NATO started bombing targets in Libya as part of the campaign to enforce a no-fly zone authorised by UN Security Council Resolution 1973. Australia is now the second largest state donor to the Libyan reconstruction effort, having committed $41.1 million from our aid budget. That's 30% more than the funding committed to the Australian Civilian Corps, which has taken four years to be capable of deploying a handful of people.

Well might you ask why Australia is spending so much treasure so far from home, and to what end? Luckily our foreign minister answered that question at the UN last month:

Some may think that Australia is a long way away from Libya. If you look at the map, that is true. But we are very, very close in the family of democracies and we are very, very close in the family of political freedom across the world.'

It's worth considering whether Australia could have had more policy impact with a small, timely deployment of military planners and air traffic controllers in the early stages, when NATO was begging for help. It certainly would have been cheaper.

US eyes Asia from secret Australian base

Πηγή: AFP
By Amy Coopes

Sep. 18 2011

SYDNEY — Deep in the silence of Australia's Outback desert an imposing American spy post set up at the height of the Cold War is now turning its attention to Asia's growing armies and arsenals.

Officially designated United States territory and manned by agents from some of America's most sensitive intelligence agencies, the Pine Gap satellite station has been involved in some of the biggest conflicts in modern times.

But its role in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, and in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, had been little recognised until one of its most senior spies broke ranks recently to pen a tell-all account.

Intelligence analyst David Rosenberg spent 18 years at the base, 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) south of Alice Springs, working with top-secret clearance for the National Security Agency (NSA), home to America's code-cracking elite.

Formally known as the "Joint Defence Space Research Facility", Pine Gap is one of Washington's biggest intelligence collection posts, intercepting weapons and communications signals via a series of satellites orbiting Earth.

Australia has had joint leadership at the post and access to all intercepted material since 1980, but the base's history is not without controversy.

Former prime minister Gough Whitlam was sensationally sacked by the British monarchy -- allegedly at American urging -- not long after he threatened to close Pine Gap in 1975, although other domestic political issues were also involved in his removal.

Its futuristic domes were originally built as a weapon in America's spy war with Russia, officially starting operations in 1970, but Rosenberg says it is now targeting the US-led "war on terror" and Asia's military boom.

"There's a large segment of the world that are weapons-producing countries who have programmes that the United States and Australia are interested in, and obviously a lot of Asia encompasses that area," Rosenberg told AFP.

The career spy is under a lifetime secrecy agreement with the NSA, meaning he cannot reveal classified information and is limited in what he can say about his time at Pine Gap, but said North Korea and China were among its targets.

"I think any country that has a large military, is a large weapons producer, is always going to be a focus for the intelligence community and China of course is growing and it's growing rapidly," he said.

"There are developments there that we are looking at."

India and Pakistan were also "very much of a concern", he added, with a surprise nuclear test by New Delhi in 1998 catching Pine Gap's analysts "blind".

The latter half of his time at the mysterious station known to locals as the "Space Base" was dominated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an intense focus on Al-Qaeda following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Rosenberg recalls that day as his most sombre in the job, with analysts scouring the region for clues on what was going to happen next, knowing instantly that Al-Qaeda was responsible and fearing they would strike again.

"While these attacks were happening we of course were thinking how many other simultaneous or near-simultaneous actions are going to happen?" he said.

"We didn't know how many other attacks had been planned that day."

It was also a huge wake-up call to the fragmented spy community, he added, who soon realised all the signs had been there of an impending attack but they had failed to piece them together to perhaps prevent 9/11.

Delays also allowed Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders to escape into hiding, a "significant intelligence failure" which left agents with a 10-year hunt Rosenberg was not around to see completed -- one of his few regrets.

It was "certainly possible" that Pine Gap was involved in the US mission which ultimately saw Bin Laden killed in Pakistan in May, he added.

He sees "cyber-warfare" such as state-endorsed hacking and increasingly portable technology allowing, for example, the remote detonation of a bomb with a mobile phone, as the next big front for the intelligence community.

Rosenberg's book offers a rare insight into the mysterious world of military espionage, discussing widespread doubts amongst spies about the since-debunked claims of weapons of mass destruction that presaged the invasion of Iraq.

It was screened 16 times before publication by four intelligence agencies -- three American and one Australian -- and has been altered or blacked out in sections through an arduous censorship process which saw him, at one point, taken into a vault in Canberra for interrogation.

Defence officials were also due to seize and destroy his computer hard-drive to ensure classified elements of the original manuscript were wiped out.

But the self-confessed "Mission: Impossible" fan said he had no regrets about telling his story.

"Imagine being in a job where secrecy surrounds everything you did for 23 years -- it's kind of like letting the cork out of a champagne bottle, all the secrets come flowing out," he said.

"It was quite a liberating experience for me."

Church of Scientology faces criminal charges for underpaying workers

Actor John Travolta is a prominent Scientologist. He is not involved in the case

Πηγή: The Telegraph
By Bonnie Malkin

14 Sep 2011

The Church of Scientology in Australia could face criminal charges and be forced to surrender millions of dollars in back pay after an investigation found it may have broken the law by severely underpaying workers.

Allegations of mistreatment and exploitation by the organisation aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline programme last year prompted the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate how the church treated its members.

In the draft copy of the ombudsman's report, which is due out later this week in full, people working for the church tabled allegations of false imprisonment and forced labour.

In some cases, members in the church's elite Sea Org unit, described as the Church's "religious order", said they were made to work for up to seven days for just $10 (£6.50), despite the Church earning millions.

It is not the first time the Church has been accused of treating its members like slaves. In the last few years, Scientologists in America have brought lawsuits against the organisation claiming they were forced to work 20 hours a day without a break for minuscule salaries.

The ombudsman's draft report found that practices described by the church's Australian members may be in breach of criminal laws.

"The Fair Work ombudsman will refer the witnesses' allegations to the relevant authority for further investigation," the draft report said.

The church argued that their religious work was done by volunteers, but the draft report found the organisation had "incorrectly classified as volunteers or voluntary workers people who are entitled to be classified as employees," which means that many current and former workers could be owed large amounts of back pay.

In a statement, the church said the release of the draft report "quite unfair, outrageous and highly unethical."

"The Church completely rejects these claims made by a handful of embittered former members," it said.

But it is not the first time the workings of the highly-secretive organisation have come under scrutiny in Australia.

In 2009, a South Australian senator tabled allegations against the organisation including forced abortions, assault, torture, imprisonment, covering up sexual abuse, embezzlement of church funds and blackmail.

Earlier this year, a senior member of the Church of Scientology was charged with perverting the course of justice.

It was alleged that Jan Eastgate threatened and intimidated an 11-year-old girl into providing false statements to police. She faces 14 years in prison if convicted.

Obesity to worsen, weigh heavily on healthcare costs

Πηγή: Reuters
By Tan Ee Lyn
Fri Aug 26, 2011


Obesity is most widespread in Britain and the United States among the world's leading economies and if present trends continue, about half of both men and women in the United States will be obese by 2030, health experts warned on Friday.

Obesity is fast replacing tobacco as the single most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases, and will add an extra 7.8 million cases of diabetes, 6.8 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 cases of cancer in the United States by 2030.

Some 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women are now obese in the United States, according to a research team led by Claire Wang at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University in New York. They published their findings in a special series of four papers on obesity in The Lancet.

In Britain, obesity rates will balloon to between 41-48 percent for men and 35-43 percent for women by 2030 from what is now 26 percent for both sexes, they warned.

"An extra 668,000 cases of diabetes, 461,000 of heart disease and 130,000 cancer cases would result," they wrote.

Due to overeating and insufficient exercise, obesity is now a growing problem everywhere and experts are warning about its ripple effects on health and healthcare spending.

Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various cancers, hypertension, high cholesterol, among others.

Because of obesity, the United States can expect to spend an extra 2.6 percent on its overall healthcare bill, or $66 billion per year, while Britain's bill will grow by 2 percent, or 2 billion per year, Wang and colleagues warned.

OBESITY BOMB TICKING EVERYWHERE ELSE TOO

In Japan and China, 1 in 20 women is obese, compared with 1 in 10 in the Netherlands, 1 in 4 in Australia and 7 in 10 in Tonga, according to another paper led by Boyd Swinburn and Gary Sacks of the WHO Collaborating Center for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and a further 0.5 billion are obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between 2 to 6 percent of healthcare costs in many countries.

"Increased supply of cheap, tasty, energy-dense food, improved food distribution and marketing, and the strong economic forces driving consumption and growth are the key drivers of the obesity epidemic," Swinburn and Sacks wrote.

The health experts urged governments to lead the fight in reversing the obesity epidemic.

"These include taxes on unhealthy food and drink (such as sugar sweetened beverages) and restrictions on food and beverage TV advertising to children," wrote a team led by Steven Gortmaker at the Harvard School of Public Health, which published the fourth paper in the series.

Chinese Pespectives on Investing in Australia (PDF)

Summary

Australia is China’s top foreign direct investment destination (Hong Kong aside). Yet, despite repeated official welcome messages, many Chinese investors and officials perceive that Canberra discriminates against Chinese investors, particularly those looking to invest in natural resources. The purpose of this paper is not to assess the veracity of Chinese claims of discrimination against Chinese investment into Australia but to understand better the reasons behind those perceptions and to identify policy-presentational issues and possible responses.
China’s negative perceptions largely flow from Australia’s foreign investment regime and the related failure of significant Chinese investment proposals in recent years. Moreover, the additional guidelines covering foreign investment applications from government related entities are perceived to be directed primarily at China. Such perceptions matter. China is our largest trading partner and an increasingly important source of global capital. Right now, we need China and China needs us. However, if China was to become less dependent on Australian resources and the perception of discrimination remain, the bilateral relationship could be tested more severely. Australia should rightly continue to assess foreign investment from a ‘national interest’ perspective. But, where Canberra believes that there are unwarranted perceptions of discrimination against China, additional steps should be taken to reduce misunderstandings. This includes a more proactive approach by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board in dealing with Chinese investors and officials.
Larum, Chinese Perspectives_web

Judge freezes assets from the sale of David Hicks book

David Hicks, former prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. Source: Herald Sun

Πηγή: The Australian

August 03, 201112:11PM

A JUDGE has ordered assets derived from the sale of convicted terrorism supporter David Hicks' book to be frozen as the commonwealth bids to seize them under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Garling made the restraining order relating to Lakewood Pty Ltd, a company directed by Mr Hicks and his wife, Aloysia Brooks, and the Misha family trust, during a mention of Mr Hicks' case today.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions wants to seize the proceeds from the sale of Mr Hicks' book, Guantanamo: My Journey, which tells the story of his incarceration in the controversial US-run jail at Guantanamo Bay.

The DPP made the application under section 20 of the Commonwealth Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which aims to prevent convicted criminals from profiting from sales of books about their crimes.

Geoffrey Bellew, SC, for the DPP, sought an adjournment to August 16 so the parties could continue “advanced” discussions, with a view to agreeing on how the matter will be resolved.

He said some documents remained to be filed and the DPP was waiting on further evidence from overseas.

Stephen Free, for Mr Hicks, indicated he also needed more time to gather evidence.

Mr Hicks himself was not in court and neither barrister commented outside court.

Mr Hicks' father Terry Hicks said the court action was opening a can of worms for his son, who is suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

“He's been suffering that for quite a while and he has been seeing people, trying to get through it,” Terry Hicks said from Adelaide.

“He's just taking one step at at time.”

The matter will return to court on August 16.

Earlier the legal action was branded a “show trial” designed as a warning to authors planning to publish controversial political material.

“This is a warning bell to other authors who wish to publish a dissenting voice and expose Australian governments' criminal complicity,” NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said outside the court.

“Other authors will see the actions of the Australian attorney-general and they will be cowed from publishing their voices.”