A former federal treasurer and ambassador to the United States has called on the head of Australia’s intelligence organization to name the former politician who sold out his country.
Failure to do so, says Joe Hockey, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess will allow all current and former politicians to be smeared and will create distrust among Australia’s allies.
Burgess used his annual threat assessment speech to reveal that a dedicated unit within a foreign spy service is targeting Australia.
The ‘A team’, or Australia’s team, managed to recruit the former politician who ‘sold out his country, his party and his former colleagues to promote the interests of the foreign regime,’ he said on Wednesday night.
Joe Hockey (pictured) has unleashed on spy chief Mike Burgess.
ASIO chief Mike Burgess presented his annual threat assessment on Wednesday, warning against the growing threat of foreign espionage and interference.
The former politician also proposed introducing a relative of the prime minister to the spies, but the plot did not go ahead.
The person was no longer active and had been “neutralized,” Burgess said.
“They’re not doing it now, they’re not breaking the law,” he told reporters and intelligence community top brass in his annual address.
“If we see them being active again, I can guarantee they will be caught.”
“A number of individuals should be grateful that the espionage and foreign interference laws are not retrospective,” Mr. Burgess said.
But a furious Mr Hockey, who was also a former federal treasurer, said this is “unacceptable” and the perpetrator must be identified.
“That is a statement of fact, that a politician served the interests of a foreign nation and at the same time the interests of Australia,” he told Sydney radio 2GB on Thursday.
‘You can’t accuse someone of being a traitor and then expect no one to ask questions.
“I spent 20 years in parliament. I want to know who that person is.”
Mike Burgess claimed that a former politician “sold his country” to a foreign actor
Hockey, who is in Washington and runs the advisory firm Bondi Partners, said he had already been asked who he was.
Mr Burgess’ revelation reflected poorly on all current and serving politicians.
“This is not a frivolous statement… this is a statement from the head of our secret intelligence service… now you have to say who that person is,” Mr Hockey said.
Federal Labor government minister Anika Wells said “no bad spy had approached her”.
“It’s a snapshot of the sophistication with which they (foreign spies) are operating now and we’re all clearly going to have to be much more vigilant,” he told Nine’s Today programme.
Wells added that there could be “legal issues” preventing Burgess from naming the former politician.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said speculation about the former politician was unhelpful and the main issue was the threat of foreign interference in Australia’s affairs.
“There are a whole range of reasons why people are not named, and that detail is not available, so I respect the decision that ASIO has made in relation to this,” he told ABC television.
Burgess said the foreign spies posed as consultants, headhunters, local government officials, academics and researchers and targeted students, academics, politicians, businessmen, law enforcement officials and public servants.
They offered cash for information, with bonuses for inside information.
The network also took academics and political figures to another country for an all-expenses-paid trip where they ended up meeting spies disguised as bureaucrats.
Weeks later, the A-team managed to extract information about Australia’s national security and defense from an academic.
Burgess notified the unit after declassifying the information.
“We want the A-team bosses to know that their cover has been blown,” he said.
‘I want the A team and their teachers to understand that if they target Australia, ASIO will target them.
“We will make your job as difficult, expensive and painful as possible.”
Arrests are not the only way to dismantle these rings or counter foreign interference, he said.
Other actions included working with partners to cancel visas or directly confronting spies or their organizations.
Burgess said he had spoken to his counterparts in other nations and told them to stop their actions or face retaliation “and they usually do.”
While the usual suspects carried out espionage, so did friendly nations, he said.
ASIO’s Anti-Foreign Interference Task Force has carried out more than 120 operations since it was launched in mid-2020.
The plots included a foreign agent trying to track down a dissident in Australia and get a quote from someone to “crack down” on him and another spy agency trying to find an Australian willing to make a dissident “disappear”.