Albanese under fire after his adviser Kathy Klugman lands top Office of National Intelligence job

The Federal Opposition has called on the Government to explain why they appointed a political staffer to head the Office of National Intelligence.

Mr Albanese is on holiday this week.

His stand-in, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, announced in a statement late Thursday afternoon that the Prime Minister’s foreign policy adviser Kathy Klugman would be replacing Andrew Shearer as head of ONI.

Mr Shearer is considered to be one of the few remaining vocal national security hawks in the system whereas Ms Klugman is regarded as representing a more dovish approach toward China.

Mr Shearer served as National Security Adviser to former Coalition Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Cabinet Secretary to Scott Morrison. He began his career in public service in intelligence working for the Defence Signals Directorate in 1989.

His appointment in 2020 was originally opposed by Labor and in particular Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“Labor has indicated to the Prime Minister that it does not have confidence in his choice to head the Office of National Intelligence,” a Labor spokesman said at the time.

“This position requires public confidence in independent, contested and apolitical assessments of our security.

“Mr Shearer has had an extensive career as a partisan operative.

“He is not an appropriate choice and Mr Morrison should reconsider in the national interest.”

But on Thursday, Mr Albanese and Ms Wong made their own political appointment in naming Ms Klugman to the job.

Ms Klugman’s background is not in intelligence but as a career diplomat working at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for three decades. She served as a High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.

She is also the daughter of the former Labor MP and since Labor was elected has served as Mr Albanese’s foreign adviser in his political office.

It is not unprecedented for diplomatic advisors to move into the ONI or Office of National Assessments roles, previous appointees have included Richard Maude and Peter Varghese.

In announcing the decision, the government highlighted that she would be the first female to take the job.

“Ms Klugman is the first woman to lead the Office of National Intelligence or its predecessor the Office of National Assessments,” Mr Marles said in a statement.

The Office of National Intelligence Act 2018 requires the government to consult with the opposition leader before recommending the next head of ONI to the Governor-General for approval.

Opposition sources said that the consultation consisted of Mr Marles phoning Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to tell her of the decision.

“That is not meaningful consultation,” a spokesman for the opposition leader said.

“As is on the public record, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong attacked the appointment of the Director of ONI, a distinguished public servant whom they are now appointing to be the Ambassador to Japan.

“Whether it is on Freedom of Information, cutting Opposition staff numbers, or on appointments, the Albanese Government is trashing conventions on an almost daily basis, and it is Australians who will be the worse for it.

“It is for the government to address why a long-term Labor staffer has been placed directly from the Prime Minister’s Office into an intelligence organisation charged with providing contestable advice to government of issues of profound strategic importance to our national security and decision making.”

The announcement came after the most recent round of Senate Estimates, allowing the government to evade scrutiny over the decision.

Mr Shearer will be posted to Japan beginning next year when his term, which Labor extended, expires.