Opinion
Two obviously completely unrelated things happened yesterday. First, the head of Australia’s spy agency, ASIO, dropped a bombshell: that ASIO had busted a spy-ring in Australia, including an ex-MP-turned-spy who had tried to recruit others, including a prime minister’s family member. ASIO boss Mike Burgess, though, declined to name this wretched Quisling.
The second, and no doubt utterly unrelated, curiosity, was that “Daniel Andrews”, “Sam Dastyari”, and “Bob Carr”, all started trending on Australian Twitter/X. Lord knows why.
Still, you’d think the Australian people would be entitled to know just who was the spy so deeply embedded in their own parliament, and who he or she was spying for.
Apparently not.
A former politician labelled a traitor by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess is “no longer a security concern”, the spy chief declared as he refused to identify the person and a raft of ex-MPs demanded their names be cleared.
As Mr Burgess’s revelations about an ex-MP-turned-spy, who tried to ensnare a prime minister’s family member, stunned parliament and led to Peter Dutton demanding ASIO out the traitor, the ASIO director-general was forced to clarify that the treacherous politician was a “historical matter” as he said he would not publicly discuss individuals.
Oddly enough, it seems that it’s all Labor pollies who are rushing to declare their innocence.
Several Labor politicians, including ex-senator Sam Dastyari and former NSW MP Ernest Wong – on Thursday were publicly and privately denying that they were the former politician Mr Burgess referred to in his annual threat assessment.
Well, might Sam Dastyari protest too much.
Mr Dastyari resigned from federal parliament in early-2018 after a foreign influence scandal, including changing his position on the South China Sea to please a Labor donor linked to Chinese government organisations.
It went much further than that, though. Dastyari was caught tipping off a CCP-linked political donor that his phone was being tapped. The then-Labor senator personally visited Huang Xiangmo’s Sydney mansion and held a conversation in the grounds, after advising Huang to leave his phone inside. Dastyari was a Labor powerbroker, linked to Kevin Rudd’s return to the prime ministership.
Still, it’s been more a case of trying to figure out who in Labor wasn’t linked to China.
The Coalition are, not surprisingly, keen to pursue the issue.
The Opposition Leader launched an extraordinary intervention to suggest the ex-politician referred to by Mr Burgess as having “sold out their country” was from NSW Labor, with links to China.
Mr Dutton, former treasurer and US ambassador Joe Hockey and former politicians who have fallen under suspicion said the person should be outed, so as not to besmirch everyone who had held public office.
“The trouble is if he doesn’t indicate the name, then there’s a cloud hanging over everybody else,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio […]
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has claimed that the choice not to name the former politician said to be linked to foreign spies is endemic of the “inaction and delays in decision making” of the Albanese government.
“Somebody that has knowingly engaged with foreign operations needs to be named and shamed as an example of how easy it can be (to be influenced), and so those of us who do have a public role are very conscious with how we engage,” Senator McKenzie said on Sky News.
“If (ASIO chief) Mike Burgess is unable to name the person because of his role, then it is up to the Home Affairs minister Clare O’Neil to do that for him.”
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten is in high dudgeon about it all.
Bill Shorten says Peter Dutton is “playing in traffic” by trying to “play prosecutor” in the case of the former politician said to be linked to foreign intelligence.
While Labor is just playing the Sgt Schultz card.
Interestingly, a member of a former PM’s family has come forward, confirming that he, at least, was targeted by some dodgy types.
Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex said[…] he was approached by a group he had been told had links to a former NSW Labor state MP, in a “brazen” act in which he was offered equity in a company. The contact came in 2017, when Mr Turnbull was PM.
He did not know for sure if he was the family member referenced by Mr Burgess on Wednesday night. “It was just so brazen,” Mr Turnbull told news.com.au. “My reaction was to express no interest and forward the details immediately to the authorities.”
The Australian
All totally unrelated, I’m sure.