The Prime Minister has defended the decision not to name a former Australian politician who betrayed the nation after being recruited by foreign spies.
ASIO director general Mike Burgess revealed an ex-politician had become entangled in a spy ring and ‘sold out their country, party and former colleagues’.
Since then, he has been under intense pressure from politicians and the public to reveal the individual’s name.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has confidence in the intelligence organization.
“The idea that any minister in my government would go against the wishes of the ASIO director-general is quite extraordinary to me,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment on Wednesday in which he warned of the growing threat of espionage and foreign interference
Mr Burgess took an independent decision not to name the individual, with Mr Albanese saying the director-general’s speeches are not conducted by his office.
He revealed he didn’t know who the person was, but “what we know is it was wrong.”
“One of the things we need to do as a nation is build trust in our agencies, and not engage in short-term politics or speculation as some have done – that is not responsible,” he said.
“I will support our national security services and I think all parties in politics should do that.”
Mr Burgess said the spy agency was sticking to its long-standing practice of not discussing operational details publicly.
“There are several reasons for this, including the need to protect our resources and capabilities,” he said in a statement Thursday evening.
The Prime Minister has defended the decision not to name a former Australian politician who betrayed the nation after being recruited by foreign spies.
“While we want foreign intelligence to know that his cover has been blown, in this case we do not want to reveal how we discovered his activities.”
Mr Burgess said it was a “historic issue that was dealt with appropriately at the time” and the person no longer posed a safety concern.
The foreign interference laws came into effect at the end of 2018.
International law expert Professor Don Rothwell said it was possible that the former politician was active before then, or that authorities did not have enough evidence to support a prosecution.
Several MPs across party lines spoke to AAP on condition of anonymity about their reservations about applying the 2018 law retroactively, despite being outraged by the person’s behavior.
Reasons for this included that it was legally questionable to change laws after the fact and that someone should not be targeted at the time for following the laws of the land.
But another wanted all levers used to ensure the person was brought to justice and did not get away with ‘betraying his country’.
“There is a line and it cuts across party politics,” they said.
The ASIO head claimed an unnamed Australian politician had ‘sold out’ his country to a foreign consultancy firm (pictured, Australian Parliament House in Canberra)
Opposition leader Peter Dutton supports the discussion about retroactively changing the laws, because “the most egregious act comes from someone in public office who betrays his country.”
In the same speech that exposed the former politician and Australian academics and a political party insider ensnared in the foreign spy network’s web, Burgess insisted that previous actions would fall under current laws.
“Several individuals should be grateful that the laws on espionage and foreign interference are not retroactive,” Burgess said.
It was also difficult to prosecute someone under foreign interference or espionage laws, in part because it required the use of classified materials that agencies did not want in the public domain, opposition defense spokesman Andrew Hastie said.
The first person found guilty under the 2018 foreign interference laws was former Liberal Party candidate Di Sanh Duong.
He will spend 12 months behind bars after building a relationship with then Minister of Federal Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.