Alex Turnbull says he may have been targeted in espionage attempt revealed by Asio
The son of former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says he may have been a target of suspected Chinese intelligence agents, as the federal government urged politicians to “wake up” to spying threats.
Australia’s domestic intelligence agency sparked an intense round of political intrigue after alleging that a former Australian politician “sold out their country, party and former colleagues” after being recruited by spies for a foreign regime.
The Asio boss, Mike Burgess, defended the decision not to name the former politician, after some current and former MPs called for more details to be disclosed to avoid sullying the reputation of others.
In a statement issued late on Thursday, Burgess said the case of the former politician was “an historic matter that was appropriately dealt with at the time” and the individual was “no longer of security concern”.
“In this case, while we want the foreign intelligence service to know its cover is blown, we do not want it to unpick how we discovered its activities,” Burgess said on Thursday.
In his annual threat assessment speech on Wednesday evening, Burgess said the activities involving the former Australian politician occurred “several years ago”. He also did not name the country.
“At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a prime minister’s family member into the spies’ orbit,” Burgess said.
“Fortunately that plot did not go ahead but other schemes did.”
Alex Turnbull, whose father was prime minister from 2015 to 2018, told news.com.au he did not know whether he was the family member referred to by Burgess, but said his experience fit that account.
He told the outlet that he was contacted around 2017 and offered equity in a company.
“It was just so brazen,” Alex Turnbull told news.com.au. “My reaction was to express no interest and forward the details immediately to the authorities.”
Alex Turnbull subsequently told Guardian Australia it would be good for Asio to train the family of politicians to be alert to foreign interference.
“Inoculation is cheap and good. Not everyone is going to be as attuned to the risks,” he said.
“If you spend your whole life in Australia, this stuff is pretty foreign and not something you normally have to think about. Asio needs to sit people down for a half day of training.”
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Alex Turnbull.
The former federal treasurer Joe Hockey had said earlier that it was it is “absurd” that the former politician who “sold out” to a foreign regime was able to “walk off into the sunset” without their name being revealed.
Hockey, who is a former Australian ambassador to the US, called on Burgess to name the ex-politician immediately and said if he didn’t, he was allowing all former and current politicians to be smeared and would risk creating distrust among Australia’s allies.
“The idea that you can make an allegation like that and say nothing, pretend it didn’t happen, is absolutely ridiculous. It’s crazy, and it’s unsustainable,” Hockey told ABC radio.
But the minister for home affairs, Clare O’Neil, supported Burgess’s judgment in not naming the former politician and said the speech aimed to “elevate public understanding about what foreign interference is and what it looks like”.
O’Neil said it was “very important political leaders, business leaders and, in fact, ordinary Australians understand they are likely to be the targets of this behaviour”.
“The director general is trying to encourage politicians – and I’m trying to encourage politicians – to wake up and realise this is a real threat to our country,” she told ABC TV.
The shadow minister for home affairs, James Paterson, told reporters that the alleged conduct occurred “before the passage of the espionage and foreign interference legislation in 2018, which means they couldn’t be charged for offences because it was not retrospective”.
Asked on Wednesday night to explain the consequences for the former politician and why they were not named, Burgess said: “We’re a rule-oflaw country and if they’re not doing it now they’re not breaking the law.”
Burgess said authorities would investigate “if we see them go active again”.
“Personally, I don’t think they’ll be stupid enough to repeat what they’ve done in the past,” Burgess said.
In Senate question time on Thursday, the One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts asked the government to name the individual.
Roberts complained that the individual may still have access to Parliament House, although Burgess has not made clear what level of government the former politician was elected to.
Labor’s acting Senate leader, Katy Gallagher, said the government respected Burgess’ judgment and “he has our 100% support”.
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The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, backed the call for more identifying information to be released, arguing that it was “pretty rough” to “besmirch” all former politicians.
“If you’re putting that detail out there, as Mr Burgess has done, I think it’s incumbent to give a little bit more criteria, a little bit more of a hint about who the person is because it’s unfair on a lot former MPs who are patriotic, as 99.9% on both sides are,” Dutton told 2GB Radio.
“If there’s one who is not, frankly, that person should be outed and shamed.”
The Labor minister Anika Wells said there might be “legal issues” that precluded Burgess from naming the expolitician. “It is a glimpse of the sophistication with which they [foreign spies] are all operating now and we are all, clearly, going to have to be far more vigilant,” she told Nine’s Today show.