DEPUTY Liberal leader Julie Bishop has been forced into an embarrassing backdown after she suggested Australia used forged passports as part of intelligence operations.
The backflip came after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a stern rebuke of Ms Bishop, the opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman, warning her claims could be a risk to Australia's national security.
"There is a long-standing convention in Australian politics. Because of significant national security reasons, neither side of politics speculates on, comments on the operation of our intelligence agencies," he told reporters.
"Today that convention has been breached, and this is fundamentally contrary to Australia's national security interests."
Ms Bishop's apparent gaffe follows last week's run of mistakes by the coalition, including comments by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that cast doubt on his truthfulness.
In a statement issued late on Monday, Ms Bishop claimed her comments had been misinterpreted.
"I did not state that Australian intelligence agencies have forged the passports of other nations during my interview with Fairfax online this afternoon," she said in a statement.
"My responses were referring to the fact that forged Australian passports have been used previously, as noted by the foreign minister today.
"I have no knowledge of any Australian authority forging any passports of any nation."
But during her interview with Fairfax Media, Ms Bishop was repeatedly brought back to the topic and did not appear to be talking only about the forging of passports by other nations.
"It would be naive to think that Israel is the only country in the world that has used forged passports, including Australian passports, for security operations," Ms Bishop said.
Asked if Australia used forged passports, Ms Bishop said: "Yes."
While stressing she wasn't breaching security briefings, she said: "There are many things that governments do including the Australian government in concert, in operations, with other countries, that would include the use of passports."
"All governments have," she said.
The coalition has taken a strong stand against the government's decision to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of fraudulent Australian passports in the murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai in January.
It has accused the government of a political motive for its diplomatic action, accusing Labor of trying to garner Arab votes for its tilt at winning a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council.
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COMMENT: This woman is bordering on incompetent.
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