Scott Morrison this week launched an attack on Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party for being too soft on China.
The Prime Minister went so far as to call deputy Labor leader Richard Marles "a Manchurian candidate" in parliament.
Mr Morrison's comments have since been widely criticised for jeopardising bipartisanship on national security.
Here are five quick questions to get you up to speed.
What exactly did Scott Morrison say?
In Question Time on Wednesday, Mr Morrison accused Mr Marles of being a puppet of China.
Mr Morrison had been referring to a speech given by Mr Marles at the Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2019, in which he called for Australia to continue building strong ties with China.
The comment sparked instant protest from the opposition, but Speaker Andrew Wallace said he did not hear it.
Mr Morrison withdrew his comment but continued to allege that China's Communist Party wanted Labor to win the upcoming federal election.
He has given no substantial evidence to support these claims.
What is a Manchurian candidate?
It is a term used to describe a puppet acting on behalf of a foreign enemy and is commonly used to indicate disloyalty or corruption.
The phrase comes from a book published in 1959 by author Richard Condon titled The Manchurian Candidate.
In the book, a platoon of soldiers return from the Korean War after being brainwashed to support communism.
One soldier, the son of a prominent US political family, has been brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a conspiracy to install a communist dictator as US president.
The book was made into a controversial film in 1962 starring Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury.
It was also remade in a 2004 blockbuster with Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep.
But why Manchurian?
Manchuria is a region of north-east China that today consists of the Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.
Bordering Russia to the north and North Korea to the south, some of Manchuria includes a portion of Mongolia.
As China is a communist country, the word Manchurian, in this context, is used synonymously with being communist.
'Manchurian candidate' is a term often levelled in politics
There was speculation Donald Trump was a Manchurian candidate during his presidency when US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia (a former communist country) had interfered with the 2016 US election that put Mr Trump in the White House.
The agencies found Russia targeted voter registration systems or state websites, fully accessed some states’ systems and stole hundreds of thousands of voters’ personal information.
More recently there has been speculation Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte's successor might be a "Manchurian candidate".
How did Scott Morrison's comments go down?
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess went on 7.30 on Wednesday night to say the politicisation of national security was "not helpful".
The head of Australia's domestic spy agency said foreign interference was an issue for both major parties.
"The foreign interference is against all members of parliament, so it doesn't go after one particular party or the other," he said.
But former diplomat and Liberal backbencher Dave Sharma said the PM's comments were all part of robust political debate.
"I think they also need to be careful not to interfere in what's properly the domain of political debate and elected representatives."
Labor frontbencher Clare O'Neil said a bipartisan approach was needed to manage Australia's relationship with China.
"I think its sad and pathetic when you see a Coalition government doing something like this," she said.
When asked if she was comfortable with such an accusation being used, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews brushed the matter aside.
