Anthony Albanese says the head of spy agency Asio has not raised any concerns with him about Labor’s federal election candidates, stating Peter Dutton is engaged in “game-playing” with national security issues.
The Nine newspapers on Friday reported “multiple security sources” had said a Chinese intelligence service was behind a recently disrupted foreign interference plot that had “attempted to bankroll [New South Wales] Labor candidates in the upcoming federal election”.
Guardian Australia has been unable to verify the claim aired on the eve of Saturday’s byelections in four NSW state seats. It comes as the Morrison government is facing internal divisions, damaging cabinet leaks and poor poll numbers ahead of the federal election due by May.
NSW Labor said on Friday the Nine report was the first it had heard of the allegations. It said the Asio chief, Mike Burgess, had “never raised these matters” with either the leader of the state party, Chris Minns, or the NSW general secretary, Bob Nanva.
The report was published a day after Dutton, the defence minister, levelled an accusation in federal parliament that the Chinese Communist party had “made a decision about who they’re going to back in the next federal election … and they have picked this bloke [Albanese] as that candidate”.
According to the Nine newspapers, unnamed security sources confirmed that Dutton was referring to a Chinese plot to interfere with NSW Labor’s preselection process.
Albanese hit back on Friday, saying national security was “too important to engage in game-playing, such as what we saw on the floor of the parliament yesterday, however much the government needs a distraction”.
The federal Labor leader said he took national security seriously and had regular briefings with the Asio chief. Albanese said he had spoken directly with Burgess on Friday morning.
“The Asio director-general has publicly stated that if he had concerns about attempts at foreign interference in political parties he’ll raise them directly with the party leader,” Albanese told reporters in Melbourne.
“I have total confidence in all of my candidates, and the director-general of Asio has never raised a concern about any of my candidates.”
Albanese said that in Friday’s call Burgess “reaffirmed that he has not raised concern about any of my candidates. I can’t be clearer than that.”
But Albanese would not confirm whether or not he had been briefed on the substance of the allegations reported in the media. He said it would be “entirely inappropriate” to discuss national security briefings, as that would endanger security “and the capacity of our agencies to operate clear of political interference”.
The Labor leader said the government’s claim that an Albanese government would “appease” China if elected was “desperate”, given the major parties had the same position on Beijing’s trade sanctions, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the South China Sea, human rights concerns, foreign interference and cyber security.
Albanese said he was “not going to sit back and cop the sort of nonsense that’s being put forward from a government that sat back” while a Chinese company was given a long-term lease over the Port of Darwin.
Earlier, Dutton told ABC radio there was “no doubt in [his] mind” about what he described as a “statement of the obvious” regarding China’s preference of Labor. He claimed he based Thursday’s inflammatory allegation on “open source and other intelligence”.
The personal attack on the Labor leader was echoed by Scott Morrison, who claimed in parliament on Thursday that “those who are seeking to coerce Australia” knew that “their candidate” in the election was “the leader of the Labor party”.
The political dispute over national security coincides with Australia hosting the foreign ministers of the US, Japan and India for a Quad meeting in Melbourne.
Prof Rory Medcalf, the head of the Australian National University’s national security college, said the foreign minister, Marise Payne, should reassure her Quad counterparts that Australia could be trusted on security “no matter who wins government”.
Medcalf said the elevation of the Quad and formation of Aukus were “signal achievements of this government”, so it would be “really troubling” if the government cast doubt on Australia’s long-term reliability as a partner in the event of a change of government.
In his threat assessment speech on Wednesday evening, Burgess disclosed that Asio had “recently detected and disrupted a foreign interference plot” in the run-up to “an election in Australia”.
Burgess was vague when describing the election targeted and did not say which country was responsible. He noted Australia was “seeing attempts at foreign interference at all levels of government – in all states and territories”.
Burgess said the case “involved a wealthy individual who maintained direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies”.
Burgess also said attempts at political interference were “not confined to one side of politics”.
Asio did not comment on Friday but referred to Burgess’ previous remarks, including: “The other important point to note there is the harm was dealt with. The election was not interfered with. Our elections remain secure.”
Medcalf said Burgess had chosen his words “with consummate care and professionalism” and it was appropriate for the Asio chief to “warn that there are very real foreign interference plots in Australia and this is being dealt with effectively by the agencies”.
But with alleged details of the foiled plot emerging in the media on Friday, Medcalf said it was time for Australia to introduce clear protocols surrounding the briefing of party leaders and disclosure of allegations of foreign interference.
“I think it’s reasonable for the leader of a party against which the allegation is being made to be given a briefing and given an opportunity to be the one to break the news,” Medcalf said.
Jason Wood, the federal assistant minister for customs, community safety and multicultural affairs, has already sought to campaign on the issue. He published a post on Facebook on Friday afternoon headlined: “CCP DESPERATE FOR ALBO TO BE ELECTED”.
The independent South Australian senator Rex Patrick said intelligence “should never be politicised”.
Nanva, the NSW Labor general secretary, said foreign interference was a real and growing threat but no national security agency had ever raised “these alleged matters” with the parliamentary leadership or the organisational wing. “We are concerned about the timing and source of these allegations,” Nanva said on Friday.
The home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, declined to comment on intelligence matters. Comment was also sought from Dutton and the Chinese embassy.
