Traitor who shall remain nameless: ASIO boss digs in

A former politician labelled a traitor by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess is ‘no longer a security concern’, the spy chief declared as he refused to identify the person.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese. Against the shadowy background of an unidentified politician, the Opposition Leader has launched an extraordinary intervention to suggest the ex-politician referred to by the ASIO chief as having ‘sold out their country’ was from NSW Labor, with links to China.

A former politician labelled a traitor by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess is “no longer a security concern”, the spy chief declared as he refused to identify the person and a raft of ex-MPs demanded their names be cleared.

As Mr Burgess’s revelations about an ex-MP-turned-spy, who tried to ensnare a prime minister’s family member, stunned parliament and led to Peter Dutton demanding ASIO out the traitor, the ASIO director-general was forced to clarify that the treacherous politician was a “historical matter” as he said he would not publicly discuss individuals.

“I understand the interest in ASIO providing more details about the individual mentioned in a case study from my annual threat assessment,” he said on Thursday night.

“It is an historic matter that was appropriately dealt with at the time. The individual (former politician) is no longer of security concern … in this case, while we want the foreign intelligence service to know its cover is blown, we do not want it to unpick how we discovered its activities.”

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess. Picture: AAP.

Several Labor politicians, including ex-senator Sam Dastyari and former NSW MP Ernest Wong – on Thursday were publicly and privately denying that they were the former politician Mr Burgess referred to in his annual threat assessment.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Opposition Leader launched an extraordinary intervention to suggest the ex-politician referred to by Mr Burgess as having “sold out their country” was from NSW Labor, with links to China.

Mr Dutton, former treasurer and US ambassador Joe Hockey and former politicians who have fallen under suspicion said the person should be outed, so as not to besmirch everyone who had held public office.

“The trouble is if he doesn’t indicate the name, then there’s a cloud hanging over everybody else,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio.

“If you’re putting that detail out there … then I think it is incumbent to either give a little bit more criteria … because I think it’s a little bit unfair on a lot of former MPs who are patriotic, as 99.9 per cent on both sides are. And if there’s one who they’ve identified who’s not, then that person should be outed and shamed.”

Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex said he was targeted by suspected Chinese agents over an infrastructure project and he could be the family member of a former prime minister targeted by the foreign spy network working with an ex-politician.

Two former NSW Labor politicians – Mr Dastyari and Ernest Wong – said they were not the MP that worked with the foreign spy network. Others also privately rejected the assertion, as chatter circled around Parliament House as to who it could be.

Mr Wong, a former NSW upper house Labor MP, was found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct when he tried to obscure the source of a $100,000 donation to the party. He said he hadn’t been aware of Mr Burgess’s speech until Thursday, but was “100 per cent sure” the ex-politician wasn’t him.

“If ASIO has got evidence of whichever politician or whichever public figure is being investigated, of course they should name them. Otherwise everybody is pointed at,” Mr Wong said.

Mr Dastyari resigned from federal parliament in early-2018 after a foreign influence scandal, including changing his position on the South China Sea to please a Labor donor linked to Chinese government organisations.

“Nothing to do with me and happy not to be commenting,” Mr Dastyari said.

Alex Turnbull told news.com.au that he was approached by a group he had been told had links to a former NSW Labor state MP, in a “brazen” act in which he was offered equity in a company. The contact came in 2017, when Mr Turnbull was PM.

He did not know for sure if he was the family member referenced by Mr Burgess on Wednesday night. “It was just so brazen,” Mr Turnbull told news.com.au. “My reaction was to express no interest and forward the details immediately to the authorities.”

Mr Burgess said on Wednesday in his annual threat assessment the former politician who had worked with the spies – known as the “A-team” – had “sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime”.

“At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a prime minister’s family member into the spies’ orbit. Fortunately that plot did not go ahead but other schemes did,” he said.

For the Albanese government, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said it was up to Mr Burgess to determine what was in the national interest, as she refused to answer who the person was, their gender or party affiliation.

“The very best defence we have against foreign interference as a country is lifting awareness of people who are going to be targets,” she told ABC TV.

“Every politician in this country needs to understand that the work they do and the information they have is incredibly valuable to foreign governments and there will be attempts to use friendships and use networks and technology to try to find out that information. We all have to do a better job.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Ms O’Neil should give a statement to the House of Representatives to clarify as much as possible the details surrounding the former politician and foreign spy network.