Former Asio boss accuses Liberal senator of ‘grubby’ attack over Huawei comments

One of Australia's most respected former public servants, Dennis Richardson, has accused Liberal senator James Paterson of engaging in a "grubby" and "despicable" attempt to blacken his name over comments Paterson made in an interview on Sky News.

Paterson, the chair of federal parliament's powerful committee on intelligence and security, argued in the interview on Thursday that Richardson, the former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, had publicly advocated in 2018 that the Chinese telco Huawei should be involved in the Australian 5G rollout.

Paterson described Richardson as a "distinguished" former public servant.

But the Liberal senator told Sky News the government's decision to exclude Huawei from the 5G rollout was "one of the best decisions our government has made - and I stand by it even if Dennis Richardson disagrees".

Paterson's critique followed Richardson contending in a series of interviews on Thursday morning that the Morrison government was serving China's interests, not Australia's, by politicising national security ahead of the election, and "seeking to create the perception of a difference [between the major parties] when none in practice exists".

The unusual intervention carried weight. During his long career in the public sector, Richardson was secretary of the departments of foreign affairs and defence, as well as the Asio boss, and Australia's ambassador to Washington.

The latter two appointments occurred during the Howard government.