Clinton Fernnades | |
|---|---|
.jpeg) Fernandes in 2010 | |
| Born | 1971 (age 53–54) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Deakin University (PhD) |
| Thesis | 'Transformational analysis of the national interest' (2004) |
| Influences | Humphrey McQueen Noam Chomsky[1] |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of New South Wales (2005–present) |
| Notable students | C. J. Coventry |
| Main interests | International Relations,Security Studies |
| Notable works | Island Off the Coast of Asia (2018) Balibo |
Clinton Fernandes (born 1971) is an Australian historian and academic who is professor ofinternational andpolitical studies at theUniversity of New South Wales inCanberra,Australia, part of theAustralian Defence Force Academy.[2] His work is primarily concerned with Australia’s national security, in particular intelligence matters and Australia's relations with its Southeast Asian neighbours. Fernandes has notably criticisedAustralia's relationship with Indonesia, in particular concerning theoccupation of East Timor. He also provided the first official proof ofASIS involvement in the1973 Chilean coup.
Fernandes completed his thesis atDeakin University in 2004, entitledA Transformational Analysis of the National Interest, which argued that the Australian Government was forced by public outrage to support the Independence of East Timor.[3]
Fernandes served in the military during his twenties when he was seconded to theAustralian Army Intelligence Corps (AUSTINT) as acase officer on the Indonesian desk.[4] In the lead up to the Independence of East Timor and during theInternational Force for East Timor (INTERFET), Fernandes and Lance Collins become embroiled in an intelligence leak scandal.
Fernandes and Collins wrote a report contradicting the assessment of theDefence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), which had not acknowledged a change in circumstances. Both officers believed that conditions were ripe for a UN backed peacekeeping mission. However, the Jakarta lobby – a powerfulde facto group within the apparatus of Australian government that believed Indonesia must be placated – as well as theAustralian Department of Defence became increasingly concerned with their contradictory assessment. The DIO liaison in Washington, Merv Jenkins, who was under pressure from within DIO to conceal intelligence information, provided US agencies with that intelligence believing it was within his authority. The prospect of significant disciplinary proceedings and an end to his career caused Jenkins to commit suicide on his birthday.[5]
The Indonesian government began violently suppressing Timor’s shift towards independence, public pressure became insurmountable. TheHoward government gave in and Major GeneralPeter Cosgrove announced the new approach. Collins became a key advisor. During his tenure he became increasingly concerned with the violence of Indonesian forces, worrying the Jakarta lobby. Some communications between Australian intelligence and INTERFET forces were disconnected for some 24 hours, but this did not place these forces at risk. Collins, believing this to be a personal warning, called for a royal commission into the disconnection.
Major intelligence leaks revealing the extent of the Howard government's knowledge in the buildup to the Independence of East Timor emerged in 2000, including their knowledge of Indonesian violence towards Timorese.[6] The homes of Fernandes and Collins were raided by theAustralian Federal Police, with Fernandes receiving a 12-month suspension and Collins being publicly outed as the apparent source of the leak. Yet, no charges were formally laid.[7] Fernandes was eventually cleared of wrongdoing and promoted to the rank of major.[8]
An external investigation was launched which found that the Jakarta lobby existed within DIO, thus verifying the concerns of Fernandes and Collins. The author of this report, Captain Martin Toohey, was publicly ridiculed by the Howard government and subject to investigation. TheInspector-General of Intelligence and Security and a Senate Estimates Committee publicly affirmed the veracity of Toohey’s report in 2005. No further action was taken upon being referred to theAustralian Minister for Defence.
Fernandes' academic career at theUNSW atADFA has been primarily focused on intelligence matters and Australian’s relations with Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Timor Leste. Since 2007 he has undertaken an exhaustive effort to challenge a decision by the Australian Government to block the release of documents inNational Archives of Australia that would demonstrate Australia's knowledge of violence perpetrated against the Timorese in the early 1980s.[9] His efforts were stifled by significant delays and vague arguments on the part of successive governments to deny the release of documents beyond the 30 year rule because it would allegedly damage Australia's relations with Indonesia in the present time.[10][11]
“Cabinet of the day not only looked away from calamity, but participated enthusiastically in the subjugation of Timor.” Fernandes, 2013.[12]
Fernandes was embroiled in an intellectual dispute with Associate Professor Philip Mendes, fromMonash University Faculty of Medicine, in 2005. Mendes responded to an article Fernandes had written aboutNoam Chomsky inOverland magazine, arguing Fernandes had overlooked what Mendes said was the implicit anti-Semitism of Chomsky's role in theFaurisson affair, when he said that deniers of the Holocaust were not necessarily anti-Semitic for that reason alone. Responding in the same edition, Fernandes said that Chomsky's argument was often misunderstood and highlighted what Fernandes saw as Mendes' bias:
"Chomsky notes that the US public believes Vietnamese casualties in the Vietnam War to be approximately 100,000, although the official figure is two million and the actual figure is probably four million. But this does not necessarily imply that the entire US public are anti-Vietnamese racists. Similarly, most westerners deny, despite massive historic and demographic evidence, the genocide of approximately ten million Native Americans in North America and approximately one hundred million in South America. They are not necessarily anti-Native American racists... Racism is not the sole reason; others include ignorance, misinformation or incredulity."[13]
Fernandes has also written a book about Chomsky, whom he has met, entitledPeace with Justice: Noam Chomsky in Australia. A review of academicRobert Manne's years as editor ofQuadrant magazine, 1989-1997, written by Fernandes, attacked the academic's timidity in addressing the complicity of successive Australian governments with the Indonesian regime in East Timor. This review later received comment on theABC:
"Mr Manne railed against crimes that he had no ability to stop, while largely ignoring a privileged opportunity to struggle against crimes in which his government was complicit. This is morally comparable to a Soviet commissar denouncing racism in the USA while saying little about the USSR's support for tyranny in Eastern Europe. Perhaps the comparison is unfair... to the commissar, who had reason to fear for his physical wellbeing in a way that a Western intellectual did not."[14]
In 2016, theNational Library of Australia awarded Fernandes a fellowship for his work,The bi-partisan consensus in Australian foreign policy, 1983.
In 2021, Fernandes obtained documents throughFreedom of Information that contained the first official proof that theAustralian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) participated in a destabilisation campaign againstChile, prior to the1973 Chilean coup d'état. Prime ministerWilliam McMahon approved the establishment of an ASIS station inSantiago in December 1970 and his successor,Gough Whitlam, ordered the closure of the station in 1973. The station conducted covert operations, handledCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) assets and filed reports to CIA headquarters inLangley, Virginia.[15]
Fernandes' 2018 work,Island Off the Coast of Asia, touched on the links between British slavery and Australian colonisation. This particular aspect was the subject of aGuardian Australia article by journalist Paul Daley. Fernandes had documented how "some of the scions of colonial society established themselves in Australia with wealth earned through slavery andofficial compensation for the loss of income from it when the British government eventually abolished the trade in dark-skinned humans". Some of the examples provided by Fernandes included merchant banker, landowner, colonial parliamentarian and philanthropistGeorge Fife Angas, lord mayor of MelbourneGodfrey Downes Carter, dental surgeonJohn Belisario, businessmanCharles Edward Bright, founder of the University of Sydney and its former vice chancellor, ReverendRobert Allwood and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western AustraliaArchibald Paull Burt.[16] David R.M. Irving & Marcio Andrade-Campos wrote in a 2025 article that both Fernandes and Daley implied thatGeorge Fife Angas was a slave owner, when there is no evidence of this. Irving and Andrade-Campos wrote that Fernandes, Daley andHumphrey McQueen) misinterpreted the nature of Angas's agency in collecting slave compensation money for others.[17]
In 2009, Fernandes acted as the historical consultant for the filmBalibo based on the 1975 events surrounding the murders of theBalibo Five andRoger East. Although the film creditsJill Jolliffe’s book ‘’Cover-Up’’ as the basis for the script, Fernandes undertook significant rewrites in order to maintain historical accuracy and refocus on events that occurred in East Timor instead of Australia.[18]
Fernandes has undertaken extensive work with various Australian politicians. For example, he has often pursued issues with SenatorNick Xenophon, who is leader ofNXT in the Australian Senate. Writing in theSydney Morning Herald on the 40th anniversary of theBalibo Five murders, Fernandes and Xenophon outlined Australia's history of complicity with Indonesia:
"Successive governments acted to shield the Indonesian military from criticism in Australia. Under prime ministerMalcolm Fraser, Australia became the only Western country to give legal recognition to the Indonesian annexation. After a particularly shocking massacre in late 1991, then foreign ministerGareth Evans ordered the removal of more than 100 wooden crosses – placed as a sign of mourning – from the lawn in front of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra. TheKeating government ensured that Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas received the award of the Order of Australia in 1995. Not to be outdone,Tim Fischer, deputy prime minister in the Howard government, said that Indonesian president Suharto was "perhaps the world's greatest figure in the latter half of the 20th century."[19]
Fernandes also co-authored a submission to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor regarding the suppression of investigative journalism under legislative changes to theAustralian Security Intelligence Organisation Act.[20][21][22]
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