Dirty Secrets: Our ASIO Files

In this moving, funny, and sometimes chilling book, leading Australians open their ASIO files and read what the state’s security apparatus said about them. Writers from across the political spectrum including Mark Aarons, Phillip Adams, Nadia Wheatley, Michael Kirby, Peter Cundall, Gary Foley, and Anne Summers confront—and in some cases reclaim—their pasts. Reflecting on the interpretations, observations, and proclamations that anonymous officials make about your personal life is not easy. Yet we see outrage mixed with humor, not least as ASIO officers got basic information wrong a lot of the time, though many writers have to contend with personal betrayal. Some reflect on the way their political views have—or haven’t—changed. Meredith Burgmann and all those who were spied on have produced an extraordinary book where those being watched look right back.

Meredith Burgmann taught industrial relations at MacquarieUniversity for 20 years and was a Labor member of the legislative council of the New South Wales parliament for 16 years.