AFP stands by Bali Nine actions
Police are still prepared to share intelligence with foreign agencies that could result in Australian drug smugglers being sentenced to death, despite uproar over the executions of the Bali Nine kingpins.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said yesterday the decision 10 years ago to tip off Indonesian authorities was sound and kept heroin off Australian streets.
Fronting the media after accusations the AFP had "blood on its hands" because of last week's deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Mr Colvin said while their executions were regrettable, the AFP did not owe the families an apology.
Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan, who was the senior officer who agreed the intelligence would be passed on to Indonesian authorities, stood by what had been a tough decision.
"If anybody thinks that over the last 10 years, I haven't agonised over this decision, then they don't know me," he said.
"Given what I knew at that particular time and what our officers knew, I would take a lot of convincing to make a different decision."
Mr Phelan revealed that one Brisbane-based officer's request to be removed from the investigation because they were uncomfortable it involved the death penalty was granted.
Mr Colvin said revised guidelines in relation to death penalty offences after the Bali Nine arrests meant police now had to consider more factors when deciding whether to share information but community safety remained paramount. "I wish I could assure you that this scenario could never happen again, but I cannot," he said.
He admitted it was "likely" if identical circumstances to the Bali Nine presented themselves today, police would not share information with Indonesian investigators.
Although it has been widely believed the AFP only found out about the smuggling ring because of a tip-off from the father of courier Scott Rush in April 2005, Mr Phelan said police had begun investigating the group two months earlier, with Chan identified as a person of interest.
But police only had "scant information" and lacked evidence to arrest couriers as they departed for Bali in April. They were able to determine other members of the syndicate through travel bookings, although Sukumaran's involvement was only discovered after the bust.
Mr Phelan said it was too risky to allow them to return with the drugs because police did not know whether they would be handed to other couriers before they could be intercepted.
Information gathered in Bali after the arrests led to the prosecution of six people in Australia.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Government could move to the next stage of managing the relationship with Jakarta now that Ambassador Paul Grigson had returned to Australia.
