The Spying MP: If we’re talking about MPs and foreign powers, the list is VERY long

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) head Mike Burgess finds himself charged with “besmirching” the good name of former politicians after revealing yesterday that a former MP had been “turned” by a foreign power. Former treasurer Joe Hockey — more recently ambassador to the US and now helping to run a DC lobbying business — has called for Burgess to “name names” to clear the reputations of politicians.

To steal from Abraham Lincoln, Burgess cannot “besmirch” politicians. Politicians have besmirched themselves, far above his poor power to add or detract.

And in any event, the list of Australian politicians who enjoyed relations with foreign powers is very long indeed. While Burgess’ claim might be shocking, it seems odd to suggest all MPs but one have been perfect in their dealings with the governments of other countries, when so many of our MPs have got up close and personal with other governments or their agents of influence.

None of these instances fit what Burgess talked about yesterday, and there’s no suggestion any of the figures named here are the former politician alluded to by the ASIO head — or that there’s something inappropriate, not to mention illegal, in their actions. But the act of sharing internal information about own’s own party, especially when in government, with diplomats of any foreign power, or using political connections to represent the interests of a company linked to a foreign power is not uncommon. 

Who can forget Labor’s Sam Dastyari and his relations with billionaire Huang Xiangmo and other China-linked donors? Dasytari was forced out of politics for that. Huang Xiangmo was a generous donor and attendee at fundraisers for both sides of politics and was snapped with some of our most senior political figures across the political spectrum.

The Chinese Communist Party of course secured much more direct influence over Australian politics when Tony Abbott as prime minister fawned over Xi Jinping, inviting him to address Parliament and feting him with a lavish banquet in 2014. “I have never heard a Chinese leader commit so explicitly to a rule-based international order founded on the principle that we should all treat others as we would be treated ourselves,” Abbott laughably said at the time, as he agreed to impose an extradition treaty with China that ultimately sparked a parliamentary rebellion. Abbott’s grovelling to the tyrant was enthusiastically endorsed by the News Corp shills of the day, and critics of his embrace of China were denounced as racist.

Some MPs still hadn’t got the message about China even years later. NSW Labor upper house MP Shaoquett Moselmane, who ended up being raided by ASIO in 2020, has a strong pro-Beijing record — downplaying Mao’s atrocities, lauding the country’s censorship and calling for China to “force a change to the rules and create a new world order.” Moselmane was later advised that he was not a suspect in any investigation. 

In a different category is former Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb, who took a consulting job with Chinese-owned Landbridge straight after leaving Parliament until 2019. Landbridge is the firm that controversially leased Darwin Port while the Coalition was in office. Even after leaving Landbridge, Robb criticised his former colleagues for damaging relations with China and questioned claims it was a threat to Australia. Not that Robb was alone, by any means — both former Liberal foreign minister Alexander Downer and former Labor premier of Victoria John Brumby took positions with Huawei, these days banned across many Western countries for its links to the Beijing regime.

Burgess also complained of “an aspiring politician” who “provided insights into the factional dynamics of his party, analysis of a recent election and the names of up-and-comers”. That sounds an awful lot like what a stream of Labor politicians, including Bill Shorten and Richard Marles, provided to US diplomats, as diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks showed.

The list of other Labor MPs who shared detailed discussions of the ALP and its policies with diplomats of a foreign power, even if an allied one, is lengthy, and includes Paul Keating and Bob Carr many decades ago, and more recent figures such as Mark Arbib, Michael Danby, Peter Khalil, Bob McMullan, David Feeney and then union leader Paul Howes.

Then there’s the extensive influence of the Israeli government over Australian MPs of all sides, despite Israel’s extraordinary forging of Australian passports for use by its agents. The list of MPs who have enjoyed free trips to Israel runs into the scores. Michael Danby’s support for Israel was so enthusiastic even The Australian — an outlet Danby liked to use to attack his critics — exposed him as travelling to Israel to criticise the charity World Vision while claiming he could not attend Parliament because of illness. Danby told The Australian he took medical advice to “get away” but made it clear no tax payer funds were used for the trip.

Not that Danby should be singled out among his colleagues. A former Labor figure claims then Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem was present when Labor powerbroker Don Farrell was organising the rolling of Kevin Rudd — who’d clashed with the Israeli government over its forging of our passports — in 2010 (for the record, Farrell denies this, but Rotem did not).

When the WikiLeaks cables revealed the extent to which Labor MPs were keeping the US government apprised of their own internal party machinations, Bob Brown, then Greens leader, said he regularly spoke to diplomats from all over the world but was always “very careful” about what he said. It was good advice.