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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-23 Daily Xml
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Foreign Influence

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:40): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General about foreign influence.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: In federal parliament this week, the head of spy agency ASIO, Mike Burgess, gave an ominous warning of the threat of foreign influence in this country. Without being specific, he revealed ASIO has expelled a hive of spies from this country and that there were emerging threats to judicial figures, journalists, veterans, defence contractors, diaspora community leaders, public officials, politicians and, without doubt, officials and elected people in local government.

Now that Mr Burgess has made that public, it seems it was no coincidence that last Friday a memo was sent out from the Deputy Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, which contained a warning and an attached sensitive report from ASIO outlining how and why elected officials and staff at all levels might be targeted by foreign powers and their spooks and offering some tips on dealing with it—not that there was anything new or that we don't already know. According to Mr Govett's email, ASIO considers spying by foreign states a bigger threat to our national security than terrorism. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Has the government been made aware of suspicious activities or foreign interference in this state?

2. Did any of the members of this hive of spies expelled come from this state?

3. Is the government—and, I would imagine, ASIO—concerned about the hive of activity going on in suburban Adelaide where the Chinese government has built a huge consulate disproportionate to the normal-size consulates here, and that it could be used to spy on its own citizens as well as the state's sovereign interests, including defence manufacturing under the AUKUS arrangement and the contract to build frigates?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question. I am aware of the email that was circulated. The relationship it has to any evidence or reports from national agencies—I am not aware of a direct link between the two. Certainly, I think it's incumbent on all of us as elected officials to make sure that we exercise everything we do for the benefit of the people that we are elected for and for no other interests whatsoever at all.

In terms of any briefings government does or doesn't receive, the honourable member would appreciate these are not things that are generally publicly disclosed, but I can assure the honourable member that we, like I know he does, take our duties to the people of South Australia, and only to the people of South Australia, very, very seriously.

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