Media release
Federal Member for Fairfax, Clive Palmer, is urging Prime Minister Tony Abbott to come clean on allegations of political surveillance of parliamentary members by ASIO.
Mr Palmer believes as many as five members of the Federal Parliament were being spied on, following revelations by crossbench Senator Nick Xenophon in late November that some politicians’ phone calls and emails were being monitored by the intelligence service.
“These revelations are a very disturbing thing for Australia,’’ Mr Palmer said.
“I ask the Prime Minister to today confirm whether any members of parliament are having their phones or emails tapped or intercepted by the Commonwealth or any State agency.
“I would be particularly interested to know if any of the crossbench MPs including myself were the subject of any type of surveillance and whether parliamentary offices were being bugged.
“In light of the Indonesian spying fiasco, Mr Abbott now needs to come clean on whether he is eavesdropping on members of the Australian Parliament for his own political gain,’’ Mr Palmer said.
ENDS