Neither Confirm Nor Deny: National Security Secrecy and Australia's Liberal Democracy, 1948-2022

Abstract

Since the 1940s, the often-controversial policy of successive Australian governments has been to 'neither confirm nor deny' (NCND) certain matters of national security. Proponents of the NCND principle have historically argued that the consistent, unchanging use of NCND is critical to national security, and detractors that such 'blanket' government secrecy has no place in Australia's liberal democracy. This thesis uses primary sources to answer the overarching research question: what role did NCND play in Australian liberal democratic governance between 1948 and 2022? To answer this question, it examines the evolution of Australian governments' use of NCND, the factors that shaped this evolution, and the interaction of NCND with bipartisanship on national security. Based on this analysis, this thesis draws three main conclusions. First, it finds that, despite governments' insistence on unchanging use, NCND has continuously evolved since its adoption in 1948; this evolution was primarily precipitated by the changing dynamic between security and liberal democratic imperatives and further shaped by governments' ability to maintain information security. Second, this thesis finds both that Australian governments' commitment to NCND has generally been bipartisan, and that NCND itself developed into an important tool of bipartisanship on national security. Thirdly, it concludes that the key historical role of NCND has been to support Australian governments in navigating the permanent but evolving tension between secrecy and transparency. This thesis ultimately argues that the use of NCND, far from being inherently undemocratic, reveals an ongoing historical commitment of Australian governments to the values and practice of liberal democracy.