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A top-secret spy mission, a decades-old scandal – and the Austin Powers-esque saga to lift the lid

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Rex Patrick’s latest transparency fight is over what he calls ‘most open secret in the history of Australian spying’ – maybe even the world A campaign to uncover any documents relating to whether Australian spies bugged Timor-Leste to gain the upper hand in sensitive oil and gas negotiations will be a little less secret after a critical win by the former senator Rex Patrick.

The politician turned transparency advocate is trying to finally lift the lid on the top-secret mission in 2004 that became a public scandal years later after an ex-spy and a former attorney general attempted to mount a case in The Hague.

Read the original report at The Guardian.

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The Guardian

Source headline and summary supplied via NewsData.io. First collected by NewsJaws on 2026-10-31. This is an automated news brief, not original NewsJaws reporting. Dates reflect the source publication. Feed delays may apply.

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