‘Be careful’: Liberal MP’s extraordinary warning to spy chief

A Liberal MP has taken the extraordinary step of warning Australia’s spy chief to “be careful” not to do one thing.

Liberal MP Dave Sharma has taken the extraordinary step of telling Australia’s spy chief to butt out of the political fray.

His blunt warning to Mike Burgess came after the ASIO boss called on politicians to stop weaponising national security.

In a rare media interview, Mr Burgess said he had been clear to political leaders – national security issues should be treated on a bipartisan basis.

“Foreign interference is against all members of parliament, so it doesn't go after one political party or the other,” he said.

“ASIO is apolitical, my staff are apolitical, they put their lives on the line to actually protect Australians and Australia from threats of security.”

“I will leave the politics to the politicians but I'm very clear with everyone, I need to be, that is not helpful for us.”

But Mr Sharma, a Liberal backbencher and former diplomat, dismissed the warning.

Dave Sharma said it was healthy for debate about Australia’s relationship with China to occur. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

“I don't want to live in an Australia where we can’t debate certain things because the spy chiefs tell us not to,” he told ABC News.

“They need to be careful not to interfere in what is the domain of elected representatives.”

Mr Sharma added that he thought debate around Australia’s relationship with China was “healthy”.

His intervention echoes comments made by Cabinet Minister Simon Birmingham, who insisted the government’s tactics of using national security to smear the Labor Party was “fair game”.

Intelligence experts on Thursday repeated their call for the Coalition to tone down it’s language about China, warning the perception of a split on national security would only play into the hands of Beijing.

Under questioning in Senate estimates, Senator Birmingham said the Coalition was simply pointing out differences between itself and Labor.

“Why is your government trying to manufacture differences with the opposition … when it only plays into one country’s interests, and that is China?” Labor’s Kristina Keneally asked.

“I don’t accept that. Our government has simply responded to comments and statements made by your leader,” Senator Birmingham shot back.

His quick dismissal led to Labor senator Tim Ayres telling the minister he was being “grubby, reckless and shameless”.

Senator Simon Birmingham copped a grilling from Senators over the Prime Minister’s recent China comments. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“You utterly debase yourself, Minister. Absolutely shameful,” Senator Ayres said.

The ugly exchange caused Liberal committee chairman Eric Abetz to shut down the hearing so senators could cool off.

Labor was undeterred by the interruption, which led to another blow up after Senator Keneally interrogated the Prime Minister’s decision to label a Labor MP a “Manchurian candidate”.

A Manchurian candidate is a reference to a politician being used as a puppet by an enemy or power.

“I have seen elections fought on national security as a very key part of the debate between parties during those election campaigns,” Senator Birmingham said.

“When Australians go to vote, making the decision as to who is best placed to manage the safety and security of our nation is one of the key decisions that Australians have to make at that time.”

The grilling caused the hearing to be briefly suspended amid the drama. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The estimates bust up followed a rare media interview from ASIO head Mike Burgess, who warned the politicisation of national security was unhelpful.

Dennis Richardson, former boss of ASIO and Australia’s Department of Defence, said he believed the Prime Minister would pivot back to bipartisanship on China if the Coalition was re-elected.

“The government is quite happy for you and I to be talking about this right now. It suits their political purposes,” he told the ABC.

“If it won the election, it would seek to pick up the pieces and put it back together after the election.”