ASIO chief Duncan Lewis says the current threat from foreign espionage is unprecedented. Credit:Andrew Meares Those accounts made clear that Soviet penetration was real and that attempts at political influence were substantial, yet the government failed to make this quite clear and its commitment to secrecy left many deeply sceptical. The excessive secrecy, and the tense political atmosphere early in the Cold War years, led opposition leader Doc Evatt to attribute the secrecy to a political cover-up and to defend those accused of being subject to a political witch-hunt. Sensitive source information that would have cleared up the issue was not presented because it was considered too secret to reveal before a royal commission, where reporters and agents would be able to connect the dots and compromise the sensitive intelligence source. Therefore, in the absence of admissible evidence to prove the guilt of accused spies, many believed government claims were part of a plot to split the Labor Party and keep it out of office. Horner and Ball categorically demolish that thesis but, with the clarification so late in coming to light, the conspiracy theories still resonate with some today. If Turnbull and Lewis are even only partially correct in saying today's espionage and foreign interference is unprecedented, then it is incumbent on authorities to avoid past mistakes. To do that, Australia needs robust legislation and bolstered organisational arrangements to ensure foreign interference and espionage is curtailed. At the same time, we must ensure that safeguards are in place for legitimate and transparent research and engagement without fear of entanglement under "foreign powers" provisions.

The headquarters of domestic spy agency ASIO in Canberra. Credit:Jay Cronan Looking back at the experience in dealing with Soviet penetration, the broader mistake concerned the overcommitment to absolute secrecy in the 1940s and 1950s, which prevented many from understanding the scale of the challenge the nation faced. This excessive silence left the field unattended except for the voices of conspiracy theorists on both sides of politics, and contributed to generation-long social division. Today, a new form of informational battle is playing out. The experience with interference in the United States, Germany and Britain should be a sober reminder that the freedoms enjoyed in Australia cannot be taken for granted. In fact, Australians have a record of seeing themselves far away and beyond the realm of such great-power competition and contestation. In the Cold War, the view was widely held that the Soviet Union couldn't possibly be all that interested in events in Australia. Yet the ASIO history volumes categorically show that this was indeed the case. What this strongly suggests is that Lewis is right in his judgment about the current situation's severity. In response, the government should be forward leaning in explaining to the public what's going on, as much as they were forward leaning in commissioning Horner and his team to author a three-volume history of ASIO. The difference is that the security challenges are playing out in real time, and not just in the dusty archives in ASIO's basement.

The Prime Minister needs to be more engaged in explaining today's circumstances to Australians. The Prime Minister needs to be more engaged in explaining these circumstances to Australians. He needs to explain in greater detail what changes he is considering and why they are important. But just as important is the need to explain how the safeguards will prevent malevolent and faceless actors twisting the truth and influencing us adversley, and excessive government involvement in our lives that may unduly compromise our rights and freedoms. Loading With sobering echoes of past efforts aimed at undermining liberal democracies, it behooves us to be vigilant about the security risks faced by Australia in an era when democracy seems more fragile than since the dark days of 1940. John Blaxland is professor of international security and intelligence studies and head of the strategic and defence studies centre at the Australian National University. He is one of the authors of the three-volume history of ASIO.