Australian church stabbing caught on livestream
A suspect has been arrested after a stabbing at a church in Wakeley, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, left multiple people injured on Monday night. (Credit: Christ the Good Shepherd Church)
A senior Australian government official said on Wednesday that bilateral relations with India are good and have improved in recent years, but declined to comment on reports that two Indian spies were secretly expelled from Australia four years ago. Ta.
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers was asked in a television interview whether India could be considered a friend of Australia after Australian news outlets and the Washington Post reported on the quiet deportation of two intelligence agents.
Mr Chalmers told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “I don’t want to be involved in any way with operational issues like that.”
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“We have good relations with India and other countries in the region, it’s an important economic relationship and we’ve gotten closer in recent years as a result of efforts on both sides, so that’s a good thing,” Chalmers said. Stated.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong deflected questions about the Indian spying allegations at a press conference on Wednesday, using the government’s standard practice of not commenting on intelligence matters.
India is an increasingly important trading partner for Australia as it seeks to reduce its economic dependence on China.
Australian Finance Minister Jim Chalmers spoke at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Wednesday 1 May 2024. Mr Chalmers said bilateral relations with India were good and had improved in recent years, but declined to comment on reports that two Indian spies had been expelled from Australia. years ago. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)
India and Australia are also developing closer military ties as members of the Quad Security Dialogue, which includes the United States and Japan.
The center-left Labor government was not in power when the country’s main spy agency, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization, removed the two spies.
In a 2021 street address, ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess outlined the activities of what he called a “spy nest” but did not identify the state behind the espionage operations.
Most observers suspected China or Russia.
The Washington Post, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Broadcasting Corporation all reported that the spies were identified as operatives of India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, citing unnamed security officials. Ta.
Burgess said the spies were targeting current and former politicians and their connections to state police. They also monitored the country’s diaspora situation in Australia and obtained sensitive information about Australia’s trade relationships.
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Mr Burgess said they asked civil servants to provide information about security protocols at Australia’s major airports and employed staff with security clearances to access classified information on defense technology.
Burgess and ASIO declined to say whether India was behind the espionage operation.
The Indian High Commission in Australia did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
