Mr Morrison on Monday cautioned against "anyone leaping to any conclusions about these matters - that's why we have these agencies". He said Mr Wang's claim for asylum would be based on whether he had a legitimate fear of persecution in his home country. If it were approved, it wouldn't necessarily mean the allegations he had made were true. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "Asylum claims are assessed on their merits through an independent process which is run through the Department of Home Affairs by the relevant officials - and that's the same case for this person or any one else who might make such a claim," he said. "He is in Australia, and we have the rule of law in Australia, and as a result you can expect to the same protections to apply to anyone who is living in our country whether on a visa or any other arrangement."

Liberal senator James Paterson, who was this month denied a visa to China over his criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party, said Chinese interference was "worse than I thought" and Mr Wang's plea for a humanitarian visa should be accepted if his claims stacked up. Loading Senator Paterson said it was "difficult to imagine more profoundly serious allegations than these, particularly that an Australian citizen who was a Liberal Party member received an attempt of foreign interference, disclosed that to ASIO, and subsequently has died". "He [Mr Zhao] was a member in one of my patron seats, I don't have a strong memory of him. I think Australia just has to be really assertive about our sovereignty here. There can be no excuse for being weak or insecure about securing our national interest just because someone is a significant trading partner," he told Sky News. "It's worse than I feared. I didn't think anyone, allegedly, would go to the lengths of trying to run someone in Parliament to try to be an agent in the Federal Parliament. That would be a profound blow to our national interests and security of that were to be done."

Senator Paterson said there was no evidence to suggest any one in Federal Parliament had received money from the Chinese government. Loading The nation's top intelligence officer, Mike Burgess, on Sunday night confirmed ASIO was taking "seriously" the allegations about Mr Zhao as well as Mr Wang's claims. Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles said Australians needed to be confident the country was free from foreign interference. "We obviously want to understand everything that we can know about this," Mr Marles told the ABC. "But on the face of it and what's in the public domain right now, this is a very, very serious matter."