Australia - Senior managers of the companies building Australia's largest desalination plant in Victoria have denied authorising covert surveillance at the site.
Construction workers have walked off the site near Wonthaggi, south-east of Melbourne, following allegations the project's joint venture company, Thiess Degremont, hired operatives to spy on them. The allegations were revealed this morning by The Australian newspaper, which says it has sources and documents about what was called Operation Pluto.
The newspaper says it was a secret deal between senior managers of Thiess and the Australian Security Intelligence group (ASI), a company run by experienced strike breaker Bruce Townsend. (more)