An Australian politician 'sold out' the nation to foreign spies. Now the country responsible for turning one of our own against us can be revealed

The mystery country that managed to make an Australian politician turn and ‘sell out’ their own nation has been identified.

China has been revealed as the country behind what ASIO director-general Mike Burgess called the ‘A-team’  spying on Australia.

Mr Burgess first revealed last Wednesday night that an ex-politician had become caught up in a spy ring, but remained tight-lipped about their identity.

He also refused to name the country involved, but Nine newspapers reported that it had independently confirmed a division of China’s Ministry of State Security devoted to Australia was responsible.

In a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night, Mr Burgess again defended his decision not to name the country involved, despite publicly naming China last October over its ‘unprecedented’ theft of Western intellectual property.

The nation a former politician – who ASIO’s director-general Mike Burgess (pictured) said ‘sold out Australia’ – was involved with has been named

‘It’s a complex, challenging and changing security environment. The world’s complex, it is not just one country,’ he said.

‘I don’t think me not mentioning their name emboldens them, they know who they are.’

READ MORE:  Bombshell details emerge about politician who ‘sold out Australia’ to foreign spies 

Without getting into specifics, Mr Burgess gave an insight into what could lead a politician to betray their own country, including that money or coercion could be involved.

‘It could be money, it could be political beliefs. It could be for years a foreign intelligence service has actually cultivated a relationship with you, built a sense of indebtedness so you feel like you owe someone something,’ he told SBS.

‘It could be coercion, it could be some blackmail going on. There’s a number of reasons why these things happen in general, but in particular cases, and even in the case I’ve share, I won’t go into details.’

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said Australia should take a ‘tough’ stance on the spying revelations.

The Nationals frontbencher said the federal government needed to deal with the ‘evident threat’ of foreign espionage as soon as possible.

‘There is an active spy or has been within our government and what we do know is that China is behind it,’ he told Today.

‘Australia (must be) as strong as possible as quickly as possible.’

Mr Burgess said the former politician was asked to help to select and invite people to attend an all-expenses paid overseas conference hosted by the members of a foreign intelligence service.

Those spies then planned to pose as ‘bureaucrats’ who would use the event  to establish relationships with people who had access to sensitive information.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slammed speculation from some quarters over the person’s identity as ‘incredibly irresponsible’, while Labor frontbencher Jason Clare said the revelation was evidence espionage was a real threat.

‘The point is that there’s evidence here from the head of ASIO that says another country has interfered in Australian politics, contacting a politician,’ he told Sky News

‘This is not a game of guess who, this is about keeping the country safe – the fact that this happened in the first place is deadly serious.’

Mr Burgess said the former politician was no longer a security threat to Australia, but that they ‘knew what they were doing’.

‘They let down their country, absolutely … They sold out Australia. The law’s the law, and in this case, that’s a reality. It has been dealt with.’

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce (pictured) said Australia should take a ‘tough’ stance on the spying revelations

In an interview on Sunday night, Mr Burgess again defended his decision not to name the country involved, despite publicly naming China last October over its ‘unprecedented’ theft of Western intellectual property. Parliament House in Canberra is pictured

When asked on 60 Minutes if naming the politician would quash ongoing national security concerns, Mr Burgess said ‘This is slightly different, this is not access to classified information.

‘This is the clandestine, deceptive actions of a nation-state and an individual supporting them so they can be recruited,’ he said.

‘The good thing, though, is that behaviour was stopped. The harm is reduced.’

He added that ‘Foreign interference against the political system happens at all levels of government in this country.’

Joe Hockey is pictured (centre) in the federal parliament, with Julie Bishop on the left and Tony Abbott on the right

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