For all the outcry about Scott Morrison’s ill-judged phone call to the NSW police chief to ask about an open investigation involving a federal minister, far more alarming was a suggestion this week in the wake of concern over China’s influence-peddling that Australia’s spy agencies should be given a role in vetting the suitability of candidates for elections.

If there is a perceived conflict of interest raised by political interference in a police inquiry, just imagine the kind of three-ringed media circus that would unfold in future, with the inevitable leaking of intelligence files about wannabe MPs, political enemies in parliament, or even factional rivals.