Australia will uphold its democratic values in the face of “foreign interference” said Foreign Minister Penny Wong on May 1 in response to a question on reports that India had at one point in the recent past a “nest of spies” on Australian soil. The response came after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had earlier reported that Indian “spies” were “kicked out” after they were “caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security”.
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“[...]You would be unsurprised to hear me respond that we don’t comment on intelligence matters. But at a level of principle about the democracy, I think you would have heard me and other Ministers on many occasions assert the importance of our democratic principles, assert the importance of ensuring that we maintain the resilience of our democracy, including in the face of any suggestion of foreign interference, and we have laws to deal with that,” Ms. Wong said in response to a question from the Australian media.
