Qantas told to respond to Bali warning claim

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - A parliamentary committee investigating the adequacy of warnings before the October 2002 Bali bombings has ordered national airline Qantas to respond to concerns that it may have tried to water down official travel advice.

Adding new fuel to the storm raging around Australia's intelligence services, the foreign affairs and defence committee will seek answers following confirmation that Qantas held discussions with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) about the risk of a terror attack on the Indonesian resort island.

The implication to be tested by the committee is that Qantas tried to separate Bali, one of its major destinations, from the warnings of high risk Asio had attached to Indonesia and which had been published in a travel advisory by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The suggestion has been strongly denied by Qantas and Prime Minister John Howard, who said yesterday that the Government would never alter its travel advice under pressure from any organisation.

The new concerns follow a rising tempo of allegations and attacks against Australia's intelligence services, reaching back to controversy at the time of the bombings about the adequacy of intelligence and of official travel advice.

They also come as Howard announced additional funding of A$232 million for the nation's spy agencies - A$131.4 million for Asio, and A$100.6 million for its foreign counterpart, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Office of National Assessments.

In earlier evidence to the committee, Asio chief Dennis Richardson conceded there had been failings ahead of Bali, including the system under which Asio provided threat assessments to DFAT but took no part in the preparation of travel advisories.

Since Bali the system has been changed.

Concerns that Qantas tried to remove Bali from the warnings applying to the rest of Indonesia were aired on ABC radio in a report that said the parliamentary inquiry would question whether the airline tried to pressure officials.

In its submission to the inquiry Asio said Qantas had asked the spy agency on July 5 2002 whether the threat to its interests in Bali could be lower than in Jakarta.

Asio had replied that the general threat to Qantas interests "cannot sensibly be differentiated from the general threat to Australian interests in Indonesia".

Howard said yesterday that he had been told Richardson had refused a request from Qantas for a separate travel warning for Bali, although the Government had not been made aware of any approaches the airline may have made to Asio.

But Howard said he did not consider the request to Richardson as an attempt to pressure the Government.

Howard said Qantas had not lobbied him or his department, nor Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer or his department.

Qantas head of group security Geoff Askew described the suggestion as preposterous and said the airline did not in any way seek to influence the threat assessment for Indonesia.

Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast