Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop says Australia has forged passports too.
LABOR has demanded that Tony Abbott discipline his deputy, Julie Bishop, for suggesting Australia's intelligence agencies routinely use forged passports.
Speaking on ABC's AM program, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith demanded the Opposition Leader disavow her comments and discipline Ms Bishop for breaching a long-agreed bipartisan convention not to comment or speculate on intelligence matters.
On Monday, before making a ministerial statement in which the Israeli agency Mossad's representative in Australia was expelled by Canberra, Mr Smith, agreed to provide Ms Bishop with a classified security briefing on the matter.
It was given by the Australian Federal Police and the nation's peak spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
The next day Ms Bishop went public on national radio claiming Australian intelligence agencies routinely forged passports while on overseas operations - claims immediately seized on in Israel.
Mr Smith said her comments showed the Deputy Opposition Leader could not be trusted.
"Yesterday we saw her breach a very sensible long standing practice that all governments, all political parties have adhered to in Australian politics which is we don't comment or speculate about intelligence practices," Mr Smith said.
"The issue here is not forging passports. This is the issue; she has broken a longstanding convention. She has put our national security interests at risk and worse than that, instead of acknowledging and admitting her mistake yesterday, she pretending that she didn't say it."
Late yesterday, Ms Bishop was forced into an embarrassing retraction in which she denied making the comments.
But Mr Smith says that was like calling black white and Mr Abbott should publicly disavow her comments.
