A New Zealand military intelligence officer has shared being "morally conflicted" about helping the governments of Australia and New Zealand spy on Pacific countries.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity to investigative journalist Nicky Hager and the Australia Declassified website they said they found it offensive that even normal military and service personnel on disaster relief or aid missions in the Pacific were given intelligence assignments.
Nicky Hager, who broke the story of the extent of Australian and New Zealand spy operations in the Pacific in 2015, says this new source coming forward just shows the practice is continuing.
Hager says it is disingenuous for Australia and New Zealand to be ramping up its support and diplomacy in the Pacific on the one hand while continuing to spy on their Pacific friends with the other.
In this second of a three part talanoa series I am joined by investigative journalists, author Nicky Hager and the co-founder of Declassified Australia, Antony Loewenstein .
If you missed part 1 in which Hager outlines his reasons for pursuing investigations and reporting on this topic you can find it in the previous episode of Pacific Waves on 1 March 2022.
We pick up our talanoa today with Antony Loewenstein talking about Declassified Australia's collaboration with Nicky Hager and why he thinks it is important to shine a light on these kinds of issues.
Photo: AFP
