Philip Dorling is the National Affairs and Defence Correspondent for The Canberra Times

The Canberra Times

The Canberra Times newspaper was founded in 1926 in Canberra, Australia by Arthur Shakespeare.It was the second paper to be printed in the city, the first being The Federal Capital Pioneer. The paper was sold to the Fairfax group in the 1960s by Arthur Shakespeare on the condition that it continue...

, an author, and is currently engaged as a Visiting Fellow at the school of Humanities and Social Science in the Australian Defence Force Academy

Australian Defence Force Academy

The Australian Defence Force Academy is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and tertiary academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force .Tertiary education is provided by the...

.

Political career

After successfully completing a doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 at Flinders University

Flinders University

Flinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...

 in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, Philip Dorling joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the government of Australia charged with advancing the interests of Australia and its citizens internationally...

 in 1992. Initially employed as a historian, he later took a role in policy – in particular being responsible for issues concerning both arms control

Arms control

Arms control is an umbrella term for restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation, and usage of weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction...

 and non-poliferation. In 1996, Dorling moved to become an advisor to Laurie Brereton

Laurie Brereton

Laurence John "Laurie" Brereton , Australianpolitician, was a state minister, a federal member of cabinet, and kingmaker in the election of several Australian Labor Party leaders, including Paul Keating and Mark Latham...

, who at the time was serving as the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

's foreign affairs spokesman. He continued in this post until 2001, and while employed in this role Dorling was "especially engaged in policy relating to Indonesia and East Timorese self-determination". While working with Laurie Brereton, on 16 September 2000, (the first day after the opening of the Sydney Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

), Dorling's home was raided by the Australian Federal Police on allegations he had leaked confidential information about East Timor to the media. Described in The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

 as a "political witch hunt", the police were searching for copies of approximately 80 documents, although no evidence was found. After leaving Laurie Brereton's office, Dorling spent two years (2002-2003) working as an advisor to Daryl Melham

Daryl Melham

Daryl Melham , Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing the Division of Banks, New South Wales. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to a family of Lebanese descent and studied Law and Economics at...

, the Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs. He was then briefly engaged in the Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

n Premier

Premiers of the Australian states

The Premiers of the Australian states are the de facto heads of the executive governments in the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia. They perform the same function at the state level as the Prime Minister of Australia performs at the national level. The territory equivalents to the...

's department in 2003 before moving to the Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

's Chief Minister

Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory

The Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory is the head of government of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of party with the largest representation of seats in the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly usually takes on the role...

's department, where he worked until 2008.

Post–politics

Upon leaving the Chief Minister's department, Dorling was engaged as the National Affairs Correspondent for The Canberra Times. Dorling was, however, once again caught up in controversy when the Australian Federal Police

Australian Federal Police

The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...

 raided Dorling's home on 23 September 2008, after he quoted from classified briefing papers intended for the Australian Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon

Joel Fitzgibbon

Joel Andrew Fitzgibbon is an Australian politician and Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Hunter in New South Wales. From December 2007 to June 2009 he was the Minister for Defence in the Rudd Ministry...

. Police reportedly seized "several documents" as a result of their search.

External links

• Revealed: our spy targets - the article that prompted the 2008 AFP raid.