‘Reveal the spy in our midst’
Secrecy casts pall on all
The nation’s top spy is being urged to reveal the identity of the former politician he says sold Australia out to foreign spies.
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation boss Mike Burgess used his annual threat assessment address to reveal an ex-politician was recruited by a foreign intelligence service “several years ago” but declined to name the person.
Former federal treasurer and ambassador to the US Joe Hockey said the claims had implicated hundreds of officials.
“Mr Burgess has to now name that politician, otherwise everyone who has ever served in politics is imputed – it’s as simple as that,” he told 2GB.
“You can’t make an allegation or a statement about someone being a traitor and then expect that no one will ask questions.”
But the government has backed Mr Burgess. Defence Minister Richard Marles said revealing the name of the traitor would not be beneficial.
“I am not aware of the specific facts which underpin the scenario that Mike Burgess has outlined,” he said on Thursday.
“I respect the reasons why that is important to be kept confidential … but I think it is also really important that this story be put out in the public domain, which is what Mike Burgess has done, because, you know, those of us engaged in public life, we need to be really vigilant.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman James Paterson said he had a “fair idea” of who the spy was but refused to speculate publicly.
He agreed with Mr Marles that the accused politician shouldn’t be outed but said the person should face serious legal consequences.
“I think it would be unfair to name someone publicly and you would obviously be running a very serious defamation risk if you do so,” he said on Thursday.
“I think it would be very powerful and important if someone has betrayed their country, particularly someone who has the honour of representing their country in the parliament, that they face legal consequences and very serious ones for that.
“But the reality is the laws weren’t there when this conduct occurred. That makes it very difficult.”
Mr Burgess used his address on Wednesday evening to reveal a dedicated unit within a foreign spy service is targeting Australia.
He said the “A-team” – a spy network operating within a “particular foreign intelligence service” – had come to be one of the most significant threats the agency was fighting, speaking about them publicly because “we want the A-team to know its cover is blown”.
Mr Burgess said the A-team trawled professional networking sites looking for Australians with access to high-level security, defence and risk information. Mr Burgess said the team used “false, anglicised personas”, posing as consultants, headhunters, officials, academics and researchers from fictional companies to approach the targets.