Raids first test of laws on foreign interference

Raids on the home and parliamentary office of NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane are the first test for national security laws.

John Zhang has been implicated in the raids targeting Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane.

The security raids on the home and parliamentary office of NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane are the first major test for national security laws introduced by Malcolm­ Turnbull in 2017.

The home of a part-time staffer to Mr Moselmane, John Zhang, was also raided on Friday by the Australian Federal Police and officers attached to ASIO.

The Weekend Australian under­stands the agencies are investigating whether Beijing has been part of a covert operation target­ing Mr ­Moselmane to advance Chinese interests, with Scott Morrison saying the actions were “extremely serious”.

In his second-reading speech for the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill on December 7, 2017, Mr Turnbull said the government took “very ­seriously” reports that the Chinese Communist Party had been working to covertly interfere with the media, universities and decisions of elected representatives”.

“If you are acting to further the interests of a foreign state in ways that are clandestine or deceptive, then we will shine light upon your actions and, where necessary, we will shut you down,” the former prime minister said.

The laws introduced offences for acts of foreign interference, the government moving to criminalise “covert, deceptive and threatening actions” by those acting­ on behalf of a foreign prin­cipal to influence­ Australian democratic processes. Mr Turnbull called it the “most important overhaul of our counter-intelligence legislative framework since the 1970s”.

Sentences of between 10 and 20 years’ jail now apply to those who fall foul of the foreign interference offences, which have a high threshold for prosecution with perpetrators to be knowingly ­involved in working with foreign intelligence agencies.

Any prosecutions resulting from Friday’s raids would become the first test of the laws, which have not so far been used despite warnings by security agencies of “unprecedented” levels of foreign interference in Australia.

Mr Zhang is prominent in Sydney’s Chinese community and has held senior roles in organisations linked to China’s overseas influence arm, the United Front Work Department.

The Prime Minister said he was briefed on the investigations on Thursday, and they were made possible by the passage of the new national security laws.