Former treasurer and ex-US ambassador says keeping the identity secret risks smearing all current and former politicians and spreads distrust among allies
Joe Hockey says allowing an alleged spy to ‘walk off into the sunset’ without their name being revealed is ‘absurd’.Joe Hockey says allowing an alleged spy to ‘walk off into the sunset’ without their name being revealed is ‘absurd’.says it is “absurd” that an unnamed former politician who “sold out” to a foreign regime after being recruited by spies is able to “walk off into the sunset” without their name being revealed.
Burgess announced on Wednesday night that a former Australian politician had “sold out their country, party and former colleagues” afterThe Asio head outlined the prolific activities of a spy network labelled “the A-team” – a spy ring dedicated to targeting Australia – but did not name the former politician or country involved.
“I can only think that the head of Asio was fully aware that there would be calls for that person to be named, because it is absolutely inconceivable that you would have a former politician representing their community, representing the country, who then goes and engages with a foreign adversary, and somehow they’re allowed to walk off into the sunset without having their name or their reputation revealed,” Hockey told ABC radio. “That is absurd.
“I want to know who it was,” he said. “I want to know if I was sitting in the national security committee of the cabinet with that person, I want to know if they were a colleague in the Liberal party, or if they were a colleague across the parliament. I want to know who they were, what was said to them, under what circumstances and how they used that information”.
Dutton said on Thursday that it’s “pretty rough to besmirch former politicians when talking about one ”.“If you’re putting that detail out there, as Mr Burgess has done, I think it’s incumbent to give a little bit more criteria, a little bit more of a hint about who the person is because it’s unfair on a lot former MPs who are patriotic, as 99.9% on both sides are.
“It is a glimpse of the sophistication with which they are all operating now and we are all, clearly, going to have to be far more vigilant,” she told Nine’s Today show.
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