The disclosure has prompted an outcry, with Australia’s former treasurer and US ambassador Joe Hockey demanding on Thursday that the identity of the “traitor” be made public. Hockey added that he had already been contacted by US officials about the allegations in the report.
Hockey told Australian broadcaster ABC that it was “absolutely inconceivable that you would have a former politician representing their community, representing the country, who then goes and engages with a foreign adversary, and somehow they’re allowed to walk off into the sunset without having their name or their reputation revealed”.
Richard Marles, Australia’s defence minister and deputy prime minister, told Sky News that he respected ASIO’s decision not to name the politician.
But Peter Dutton, leader of the opposition Liberal party, told radio station 2GB that the MP in question should be “outed and shamed” by ASIO so that a “cloud” did not hang over other politicians in parliament.
Alexander Downer, former foreign minister, said the release of the allegations without naming the MP was “foolish”, as it threatened to unleash “a storm of abuse” against politicians across the spectrum.
“We need to know much more about this given the head of ASIO has been fairly explicit,” he said.
Australia is a “priority target” for a foreign intelligence service, said Burgess, who added that the foreign adversary had formed an “A Team” dedicated to infiltrating networks of Australian professionals, civil servants and academics.
He said the team had specifically targeted the defence industry by offering compensation for reports on Aukus, the defence alliance with the US and UK centred on developing nuclear-powered submarines in Australia.
Burgess also disclosed that spies posing as bureaucrats met Australian delegates at an expenses-paid conference in an unnamed overseas country, where they requested access to government documents. One academic started providing information on national security and defence priorities, while another, an aspiring politician, provided a power map of his party.
Burgess also said ASIO uncovered evidence of a nation making multiple attempts to scan Australia’s critical infrastructure for vulnerabilities.
ASIO has in recent years uncovered numerous attempts by foreign intelligence assets to infiltrate Australian politics, including plots to fund the election campaigns of friendly candidates. Laws were introduced in 2018 to crack down on foreign interference.
Sam Dastyari, a Labor senator, was forced to resign in 2016 after it emerged that he had publicly called for Australia to respect Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea after accepting a donation from a Chinese property developer.
On Thursday, Chinese-Australian businessman Di Sanh Duong was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail, in the first case under new foreign interference laws.
Duong, who had been accused of having regular contact with Chinese intelligence operatives, was found guilty in December last year of trying to influence former MP Alan Tudge, who was a member of then-prime minister Scott Morrison’s cabinet.
ASIO said it had chosen to publicise the activities of the “A Team” to not only highlight the threat to Australia, but also to alert the foreign intelligence agency that its “cover is blown”.
“I want the A Team and its masters to understand if they target Australia, ASIO will target them,” Burgess said. “We will make their jobs as difficult, costly and painful as possible.”
Written by: Nic Fildes
© Financial Times
