By Jake Evans, ABC political reporter
Former Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey speaks during a press conference in Sydney on 2 September, 2015. Photo: AFP / William West
Every Australian politician's loyalty will be in question until the "traitor" politician who was cultivated by spies is named, the country's former treasurer, Joe Hockey, warns.
Australian intelligence has revealed a retired politician was recruited by an international spy ring, and in one plot attempted to introduce a prime minister's family to their foreign handlers.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's (ASIO) boss Mike Burgess said the politician had "sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime".
Burgess said he believed the problem had been "neutralised", and the politician would not be "stupid enough to repeat what they've done in the past" now foreign interference laws could be used against them.
But a furious Joe Hockey, the former treasurer and former ambassador to the United States, said it would "besmirch" the reputation of every politician until the compromised politician was named.
"For a start, the former politician is a traitor. It wasn't an allegation by the head of our intelligence agency, it was a statement of fact," Hockey told ABC Radio National.
"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.
"It makes us all question as representatives in the parliament who we can trust, who of our current and former colleagues can we trust? And that's ridiculous."
Hockey warned he had already received questions from US officials, and that it had raised questions over Australia's 'five eyes' intelligence sharing relationship.
Claim politician engaged in 'old fashioned espionage' and should be prosecuted
Michael Shoebridge, director of Strategic Analysis Australia, said ASIO's statement sounded like "old fashioned espionage" and so should constitute a criminal act.
"It's been a crime in Australia since 1914, so even though Mr Burgess told us this happened some years ago before the espionage laws were strengthened it still would have been a crime at the time and I can see no reason that there shouldn't be a prosecution," Shoebridge said.
"There's a strong public interest [in naming them] ... it brings every former politician into disrepute by doing this.
"This is a pretty extraordinary, extreme case, someone who was working with a foreign country's spy agency to damage Australia's security."
Shoebridge said the ASIO director-general should not be left to "carry the can" on the issue and that it must be taken up by the political and justice systems.
In an interview for ABC's Afternoon Briefing, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil agreed the case was "textbook" foreign interference.
"I'm not going to get into those details and indeed that's not really what's serving the public interest here," O'Neil said.
"What we need to do is make sure Australians, from our politicians, from our leaders in business, but also ordinary people going about their ordinary day have some awareness about what are relentless attempts to try to build a picture of what life looks like in Australia and how decisions are made."
O'Neil said it was a matter for Burgess to determine whether it was in the public's interest to name the politician.
Sitting politicians begin to face questions on naming 'traitor'
But some sitting politicians have been circumspect in their responses, saying there may have been good reasons for Burgess to reveal a politician had been compromised without naming them.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson told Sky News ASIO's annual threat assessment last night should not come as a surprise.
"This is now the third year in a row where [Mike Burgess] has said that espionage and foreign interference has supplanted terrorism as our principal security concern, and he's previously said that espionage and foreign interference are at record levels, higher than they ever were, even at the height of the Cold War," Paterson said.
"Of course that means politicians are targeted. And of course that means some people have betrayed their country."
Paterson said he had "a fair idea" who Burgess was referring to, but would not speculate.
"And in a sense, it doesn't matter. Every politician is a target. The people around us, including our staff and family members and associates, are targets, and we need to approach our work with that in mind," he said.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said there may have been good reasons not to name the retired politician.
"I respect what ASIO have done here in terms of putting this story into the public domain but also maintaining the confidentiality of the facts around this, and there could be a whole lot of reasons why that should happen," he said.
"We've got among the best agencies in the world dealing with this, the specific facts which underlie this scenario for good reason are not in the public domain."
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, a cabinet minister in the Albanese government, said she was not aware of who the compromised politician was and only knew what had been publicly reported.
She said it was concerning to think she may have worked alongside the politician, but it was not for her to know who it was.
"I think that's really a matter for the ASIO boss. I imagine there's a reason they haven't named the person or taken further action, I think the point is to give a public warning this is a risk," Plibersek told Sky News.
"I have to say anybody who works with foreign agents of influence to pass on information to a foreign government is a traitor."
- This story was first published by the ABC.