Raid on Australian MP Moselmane highlights insecurity, fearmongering: analyst

Allan Behm says raids such as those on Shaoquett Moselmane and Chinese journalists were done for political effect and to intimidate people

Uncertainty amid strained China-Australia ties and the coronavirus pandemic has seen insecurity and prejudice rise, like in the McCarthy era

4-MIN READ4-MIN

New South Wales opposition MP Shaoquett Moselmane, whose home and office were searched in June in an Australian investigation into alleged Chinese influence. Photo: AP

Published: 7:00am, 31 Oct 2020Updated: 3:37pm, 1 Nov 2020

Corrected [2:50pm, 1 Nov, 2020]

[2:50pm, 1 Nov, 2020]
This article initially said two Chinese academics were raided. It has been updated to clarify that the academics were not raided or linked directly to the raid on Moselmane, but they had their visas cancelled at the same time.

In June, Australian politician Shaoquett Moselmane’s Sydney home and office were raided following allegations of infiltration by a Chinese agent. At the same time, the homes of four Chinese journalists were searched, according to the Chinese government.

The target of the raids by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was allegedly John Zhang, one of several part-time staff members working for Moselman, a member of parliament for New South Wales from the opposition Labor Party.

Zhang, an Australian citizen who runs his own business selling eyewear, had translated Moselmane’s speeches into Chinese. He denied all allegations against him and has launched a High Court challenge on the validity of a police warrant relating to the investigation.

The raids were also the first test of Australia’s anti-foreign interference laws, passed two years ago.

This Week in Asia spoke to Allan Behm, head of the International and Security Affairs Programme at The Australia Institute, a Canberra think tank. Behm held senior positions in the Attorney General’s Department and the Department of Defence in the 1980s and 1990s. He was chief of staff to former cabinet minister Greg Combet and senior adviser to Penny Wong, the former cabinet minister and current shadow minister for foreign affairs.

Q: What do you make of the raid on Moselmane?

Behm: What we had, in the first instance, was the Australian intelligence (ASIO) and police authorities (AFP) conducting raids on the houses of Australian citizens who were “of interest”. But Moselmane said [to the media] the AFP told him there was no evidence that he was involved in any form of foreign interference or that he was subject to foreign interference.