Was Lewis "Bata" Kent (1925-2014) - an Australian Labor Federal Member of Parliament an intelligence operative for Communist Yugoslavia?
by Sasha Uzunov
LEWIS "BATA" KENT - Federal MP for Hotham (1980-90)
Team Uzunov exclusive - after a 2 year wait our application for access to Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) documents is finally processed
EXPLOSIVE: ASIO files reveal a former Australian Federal MP, before entering parliament, wanted in 1964 to bomb Croat activists in Australia...
In a 1982 ASIO report on Federal MP, Lewis Kent, his "activities" were listed:
7-1-1964: "Kent suggested that they set fire to the home of Srecko Rover [controversial Croat leader in Melbourne, Australia] and that other known fascists would be given attention (either by fire, bombing or by kidnapping)
on 13-2-1964 Kent said: "we will have to burn ROVER's home, then the church, everything."
In 1964 Kent had dinner with the Yugoslav Consul General, Dejan Popovic, on a visit to Melbourne.
In the same year Popovic telephoned Kent twice during a visit to Melbourne and visited his home.
In 1976 Kent invited Dr Georgi Trajkovski, Yugoslav Consul General in Melbourne and believed to be the Croatian Six set up mastermind, to dinner.
Kent was chairman of the controversial Australian Yugoslav Welfare Society, set up by Trajkovski, and which was accused of spying upon members of the Croat, Macedonian communities in Melbourne.
source: ASIO file available in the National Archives of Australia.www.naa.gov.au
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE (formerly Commonwealth Police)
You have to shake your head in amazement at Australian law enforcement and counter intelligence "naivety." Australian Federal Police Agent, DetectiveSenior Sergeant Arnold 'stumbled upon the fact' that an translator used to examine seized Croat documents was also close toYugoslav diplomats.
In fact Detective Snr Sergeant Arnold spoke to the man at a Yugoslav consulate cocktail reception for Aco Petrovic, from the Serbian Matica, visiting Australia in November 1983.
This is an AFP report handed to ASIO and inside Lewis Kent's ASIO file.www.naa.gov.au
In another report from 1983, Kent got in contact with Anton Buneta, identified as a Yugoslav intelligence officer by ASIO.
Money shot quote:
PLO TELLS YUGOSLAVIA - we'll choose our friends, Left wing Croats !
LEFT ON LEFT & "Radical Croat Chic" - In the 1980s a splinter group, HDP, from the mainstream Croatian nationalist movement emerged, moving to the left and aligning itself with "progressive forces" such as the Australian Trotskist group, the Socialist Workers Party... but also agitating for Croatian independence from Socialist Yugoslavia.
In the ASIO file of ex Federal MP Lewis "Bata" Kent, Kent, a hardcore leftist himself and supporter of Tito's Yugoislavia, was determined to destroy this group...HDP and its links with the Australian Left.
It also undermines the stereotype of all "Croatian nationalists" being labelled as right wing Ustashas, as was being pushed by Socialist Yugoslavia at the time.
Radical Croat Chic & George Seitz
In 1982, the HDP organised a dinner-dance in Melbourne, Australia and invited a representative from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), Anton Shaer, and the Irish Republican Movement, Barry Hughes to give a talk. Also present was the ALP MP for the state seat of Keilor, Australian-Croat, George Seitz.
The event was reported in the local Croatian newspaper, Hrvatski Tjednik and a copy sent to PLO Heaquarters in Damascus, Syria. On finding out, Yugoslavia, a long time supporter of the PLO, protested.
The money shot quote: "PLO will choose its friends."
ASIO took this development very seriously...the Croats playing the "leftist card."
UPDATE - TEAM UZUNOV EXCLUSIVE - 1986 declassified ASIO document lodged with the National Archives of Australia - www.naa.gov.au
OUTRAGEOUS - The domestic Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) slams Australian Federal Police (AFP) for doing investigative work for Yugoslav Intelligence (YIS or UDBa/SDB) by passing on addresses to Yugoslav consulate staff in Melbourne. That man Georgi Trajkovski is at it again... see link for background story
1986 ASIO report: quote: "We now have the extraordinary situation of the AFP doing owner-occupier checks for YIS [Yugoslav Intelligence Service, UDBa/SDB] officers enabling them to carry out intelligence gathering interviews in Aust. [Australia]."
