A foreign intelligence service recruited a former Australian politician who “sold out their country” and even proposed bringing a prime minister’s family member into the spies’ orbit, ASIO boss Mike Burgess has revealed.

Declassifying details about the breadth of the foreign country’s intelligence activities in Australia, Mr Burgess issued a warning that spies were trawling through professional networking sites looking for targets with access to sensitive information, and were willing to pay them thousands of dollars.