ASIO, AFP probe pro-China Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane and staffer

ASIO believes agents tried to infiltrate NSW Parliament through a Labor backbencher, whose home and office were raided under new espionage laws.

ASIO believes Chinese Communist Party agents have attempted to infiltrate the NSW Parliament through the office of a Labor backbencher, whose home and office were both raided in the first test of new national security and espionage laws.

Australian Federal Police officers and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officials on Friday raided the home and Parliament office of NSW Labor MLC Shaoquett Moselmane as part of an unprecedented investigation into foreign interference.

The home and business address of Mr Moselmane’s part-time staffer John Zhang were also the subject of a search warrant as the intelligence agency gathers evidence about whether agents directed by the Chinese government have attempted to influence the Labor MLC or others in his office – and whether Mr Moselmane was complicit.

 

Mr Moselmane, who has visited China nine times in a decade, has been a significant pro-Beijing voice in the ALP and once called for China to “create a new world order”.

The raids, a week before the Eden-Monaro by-election, come after a tumultuous period for Labor with a branch-stacking scandal claiming three Victorian state ministers earlier this month and a corruption investigation related to a Chinese political donor last year.

Mr Moselmane spent most of Friday with his lawyer and David Blunt, Clerk of the Parliaments, as federal police sifted through documents at his office.

Sources close to the investigation told The Weekend Australian that inquiries are largely centred on Mr Zhang, who also runs a sunglasses business from a warehouse in Moorebank, while Mr Moselmane is a person of interest to the investigation.

Federal officers enter the home of NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane in Rockdale, Sydney on Friday morning. Picture: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

The investigation, one of the first to result in a raid after the Turnbull government passed tough new national security and espionage laws in 2018, is being pursued by a special taskforce into foreign influence established by Scott Morrison last year.

“We won’t cop anyone coming and seeking to interfere in our political system,” the Prime Minister said. “We will stand up to it and we will take action.”

It was a “self-contained” investigation, The Weekend Australian understands.

No charges have been laid against Mr Moselmane or Mr Zhang. Both the AFP and ASIO said they were “executing search warrants in Sydney … as part of an ongoing investigation”.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese was briefed by ASIO and the AFP on Friday and Mr Moselmane was suspended by NSW Labor and will no longer be allowed in caucus.

Mr Moselmane was the assistant president of the NSW Legislative Council until April this year, when comments lauding Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused uproar and ended in his resignation from the job.

Police seen outside NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane’s office in Parliament House. Picture: Supplied

At the time, he commended the “phenomenal effort of (China) and compared it to “the slow, and at times baffling and confused messaging by the Morrison federal government”.

Mr Moselmane could not be reached for comment on Friday, but his brother Shawki Moselmane told reporters at his Rockdale home that the Labor MLC had “nothing to do with the Communist Party of China, he’s got nothing to do with China at all”.

Mr Moselmane is a founding member of the Australian Chinese Association and the honorary chairman of the Australian Shanghainese Association, according to his parliamentary disclosures. Both organisations, according to China analysts, are linked to Beijing’s network of foreign influence operations known as the United Front Work Department.

Mr Moselmane, in 2015, also met with the chairwoman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Jie Ju, in Shanghai. The CPPCC, as it is known, is a “critical co-ordinating body” for the United Front, according to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Mr Zhang was the honorary chairman of the Australian Shanghainese Association, according to an entry on his LinkedIn profile. According to previous reports, Mr Zhang travelled to China for a training course organised by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, a branch within China’s State Council, in 2013. He joined Mr Moselmane’s office last year.

Colleagues yesterday described Mr Moselmane, a member of Labor’s powerful Right faction, as not particularly influential. However, he has in the past been linked to former foreign minister and NSW premier Bob Carr.

An undated image of Shaoquett Moselmane, left and current Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Supplied

NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay said the party was co-operating with the agencies involved in Friday’s raids, and said allegations Mr Moselmane’s office may have been infiltrated by Chinese government agents were “dreadfully concerning”. “There is an expectation on MPs that whatever they do is in the best interest of the people in this state,” she said.

An undated image of Shaoquett Moselmane, right, and former Labor leader Bill Shorten.

But NSW Police Minister David Elliot told The Australian that Ms McKay should demand Mr Moselmane’s resignation, rather than merely suspending him from the Labor Party.

“I’ve demanded he resign from parliament today, and if he doesn’t, Jodi should stand down as leader because she has allowed all this to happen on her watch,” said Mr Elliott.

“Allegations that he conspired with a foreign power just metres from the office of the premier, police minister and Minister counter terrorism are frightening.”

An image showing Shaoquett Moselmane, second right), former NSW Premier Bob Carr, left, and Labor leader Anthony Albanese, right, dated April 10, 2019. Picture: Facebook

Attorney-General Christian Porter, who signed off on the search warrants, said “espionage and foreign interference represent a serious threat to Australia’s sovereignty and security and the integrity of our national institutions.”

“There is no threat to public safety … but it is worth saying that the Government is sharply focused on activity in this area as evidenced by the complete rewrite of the laws applying to espionage and foreign interference and also foreign influence,” he said.

“Our domestic security agencies are doing an excellent job in preventing, disrupting and investigating under these very new laws.”

Mr Morrison said the raids on Mr Moselmane’s home and parliamentary office demonstrated that the threat of foreign interference was real. “The need to take action is necessary and the government is absolutely determined to ensure that nobody interferes with Australia’s activities,” he said.