Australian federal police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation yesterday raided the home and parliamentary office of a New South Wales (NSW) state politician in an investigation that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has linked to foreign interference.
NSW Labor Party leader Jodi Mackay said that she would be briefed by the federal police and the intelligence agency, who she said conducted the raids on the home and parliamentary office of Shaoquett Moselmane.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Moselmane had taken nine privately funded trips to China since entering the state parliament in 2009, with disclosure records showing that his transport and hospitality costs were often met by Chinese government officials or agencies.
McKay said that Moselmane’s party membership was being suspended and he would no longer sit in the Labor parliamentary caucus.
Mackay told reporters that the raids were “dreadfully concerning” and that a staff member of Moselmane who was not a Labor member was also caught up in the raids.
Moselmane has not made a public statement on the raids and his lawyers did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
He has not been accused of wrongdoing.
An intelligence agency representative said that it had conducted “search warrant activity” in Sydney as part of an investigation that “does not relate to any specific threat to the community.”
It did not provide any further details of the raids or the reason they took place.
NSW Legislative Council clerk David Blunt said that police executed a search warrant on Moselmane’s parliament office.
“The protocols have been followed rigorously and scrupulously throughout the day,” Blunt said.
It is unusual for the federal police to execute a search warrant inside the state parliament, he said.
Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter, who authorized the search warrants for the intelligence agency, said in a statement that the Australian government “is sharply focused on activity in this area as evidenced by the complete rewrite of the laws applying to espionage and foreign interference and also foreign influence.”
Morrison said that the federal government was “absolutely determined to ensure that nobody interferes with Australia’s activities,” and the actions of the authorities “demonstrate that the threats in this area are real.”
Foreign interference legislation was passed in 2018, spurred in part by a classified report on Chinese influence activity in Australia and sparking anger from Beijing.
Earlier this year, Moselmane resigned as assistant president of the NSW parliament’s Legislative Council after praising Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additional reporting by AP
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)