He worked across south-east Asia during the Vietnam War, covered the United Nations in New York and the Johnson, Nixon and Carter administrations in Washington. Raised in Albany, Western Australia, Barnett joined the ABC in 1961. If you trust them there are things you can exchange." Connections "There are people who help out along the way on an ad hoc basis. "The impression I had was he had been a stringer years ago for my service," he says. Warren Reed, a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent in the Middle East who worked with Barnett late in their careers, believes that Barnett operated as a freelance agent, using his access to provide insights for the Australian government on the thinking of international leaders. "Yes, there was that rumour about him being a spook but I had no collateral for that," says Richard Broinowski, a former ambassador and Radio National managing director who had mutual friends with Barnett. The impression I had was he had been stringer years ago for my service. But talk swirled for years that Barnett was more than an accomplished journalist. No Australian journalist has been identified as an intelligence agent in the modern era. In an era when the ABC was more compliant towards government, Barnett's career raises questions about whether the broadcaster inadvertently facilitated intelligence gathering on Australian allies and adversaries, and if the ABC's editorial independence could have been compromised. While the evidence is circumstantial, a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent says that Barnett, one of the ABC's longest-serving and most-distinguished foreign correspondents, might have passed on intelligence about the highly placed officials he had access to, including US presidents and Asian heads of state. Joe ArmaoĪmong some long-standing ABC journalists, Barnett's death rekindled long-dormant questions about a period when intelligence agencies were rumoured to use the national broadcaster as cover to spy on our allies and enemies. While the evidence is circumstantial, talk swirled for years that he was more than an accomplished journalist, and dabbled in espionage. His death was marked with a condolence note from the ABC's director of news, Gaven Morris, and mourned by the small group of journalists still alive who worked with him, including Ray Martin, Tim Bowden and Helene Chung, the ABC's first female foreign correspondent. For almost two decades, Peter Barnett covered international affairs with an effortless authority and access to power that made him a role model for a generation of broadcast journalists who followed.īarnett died four weeks ago in Melbourne, aged 90.
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