For a Hilton inquiry
By Ted Mack
Fifteen years ago in the early hours of a Monday morning, a bomb was sitting in a council rubbish bin in front of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. The Hilton was the venue for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting.
At 12.40 a.m. a council worker, William Favell, picked up the bin and overturned it into the back of a garbage truck. The bomb exploded, killing him and his co-worker Alec Carter instantly. Constable Paul Burmistriw was standing at the hotel entrance as part of the security cover. He was fatally injured and died nine days later.
Policeman Terry Griffiths suffered terrible, disabling injuries, as did Colin Nichols, a Hilton employee. Several others were also injured in the blast, including policemen, hotel staff and a taxi driver.
Fifteen years later, despite an inquiry and a string of prosecutions, the Hilton bombing remains shrouded in mystery.
Three members of the Ananda Marga religious group came under police suspicion. They were charged and convicted of an unrelated crime. They served years in jail before the public outcry over a frame-up led to them being released and paid compensation.
Years later Evan Pederick confessed to placing the bomb in the bin. Yet few people believe Pederick. Few accept that his trial uncovered the truth.
The Hilton mystery does not just extend to who planted the bomb and why. It also extends to how such a thing could be allowed to happen by the federal and NSW police and security and intelligence forces.
The Commonwealth (now Federal) Police, ASIO and the army each had a role in providing security. So did the NSW Police, particularly its Special Branch. How is it that no state or federal officers or organisations responsible for security of the Hilton have ever been called to account publicly for their failure?
How is it that in federal parliament there could be so little interest in pursuing the question?
How is it that parliament, which represents the people, accepts a culture of secrecy?
I believe strongly that openness in government, while it introduces some of its own problems, eliminates the many more serious problems that stem from secrecy.
We hear a great deal about how the national interest is best served by preserving the cloak of secrecy that surrounds organisations like ASIO. Yet how does that compare with the national interest in getting to the truth of the Hilton?
Wherever you look, there are unanswered questions about the Hilton tragedy, and just by asking them, more questions are posed.
Only a royal commission jointly instituted by the federal and NSW governments can approach the task of finding answers.
Both houses of the NSW parliament have, by unanimous resolution, called for such an inquiry. However, an inquiry will be
pointless unless the federal government lifts the cloak of immunity and secrecy from its security agencies.
The Hilton bombing is one of the worst crimes ever perpetrated in Australia. The continuing mystery surrounding this event and the lack of public accountability of the security agencies which let it happen are challenging the integrity of Australian government and our judicial system.
[Ted Mack is the independent federal MP for North Sydney. This is an abridgment of his remarks to a February 13 public forum on the Hilton bombing.]