Senator grilled over Peter Dutton’s Labor China comments

A senator has been grilled about comments made by Defence Minister Peter Dutton on ABC’s Insiders this morning.

A government senator with a powerful intelligence role has refused to be drawn on whether Peter Dutton was out of line when politicising national security by referencing classified information.

Following weeks of back-and-forth about domestic politics and relationships with China, senator James Paterson – who chairs the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security – appeared on ABC Insiders on Sunday.

After multiple probes, Senator Paterson all-but confirmed Mr Dutton’s comments about his access to secure material and its domestic ramifications was indeed inappropriate.

His appearance came after the defence minister ramped up the government’s attack on Labor, claiming the Chinese government had picked Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese as “their candidate” for the upcoming election.

Mr Dutton stood firm on his remarks because of what he’s seen in both “open source and other intelligence”.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said he knew Labor was China’s preferred candidate because of what he’d seen in ‘classified intelligence’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Insiders host David Speers asked Senator Paterson multiple times on Sunday whether it was appropriate that Mr Dutton had used his access to secure intelligence to make such claims.

It was noted that ASIO boss Mike Burgess had this week called on all politicians to stop politicising national security, calling it dangerous.

Senator Paterson sought to push blame back on to Labor, noting senator Kimberley Kitching had used parliamentary privilege in senate estimates to name a Chinese billionaire as a “puppeteer” behind a foreign interference plot.

Once again, Speers asked Senator Paterson whether Mr Dutton’s comments had been “appropriate”.

“I think the point that the ASIO director general is making is that all political parties, all political actors need to be careful about that and they need to heed that warning,” Senator Paterson said.

“I’m not critical of Kimberley Kitching or Peter Dutton. There is very good reason there is privilege in the parliament.”

Liberal senator James Paterson said politicians should heed the warning from the ASIO boss. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Speers interjected, nothing “one is a Labor backbencher, one is a Defence Minister”.

“Again, was it appropriate for Peter Dutton to talk about classified information as part of that political attack,” Speers asked.

“I think it’s important to remember, David, that Peter Dutton didn’t refer to any classified information, he didn’t divulge any classified information, he just indicated that there was classified information,” Senator Paterson said.

Speers asked again: “Is it appropriate?

Senator Paterson responded by saying “I think we should listen carefully to the director of ASIO”.

Speers asked twice more whether Mr Dutton’s comments were appropriate, to which Senator Paterson again said “I think we need to be careful:”

“I will take that as a no, it was not appropriate,” Speers said, to which Senator Paterson did not respond.