1973 Murphy raids

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Majella, 473 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne VIC 3004, Australia

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S37° 50' 29.1" E144° 58' 42.7"   (-37.841416666667, 144.97852777778) Start navigation »

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The Murphy raids on the offices of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) occurred on 16 March 1973. The purpose of the raids, instigated by Attorney-General Lionel Murphy, was to obtain terrorism-related information that the ASIO was accused of withholding. Murphy was operating without the consent of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam or the Whitlam Government, nor the judiciary as warrants were not sought owing to the belief that it was Commonwealth property. This view would later be found to be legally valid by the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security.
Although called 'raids', the only raid carried out was on the Canberra office as this was by surprise whereas the investigation of the Melbourne office (ASIO's headquarters) was done hours after the Director-General had been informed of Murphy's intentions.

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