ASPI executive director Justin Bassi, a government critic, to leave the think tank

Many within Labor view ASPI as damagingly hawkish on China.

CANBERRA — Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi will not seek a second term, after public clashes with the Albanese government.

At an all-staff meeting on Tuesday, ASPI employees were told that Bassi, who took up the role in 2022, will leave the organization when his five-year term expires in 2027.

The Canberra-based defense and foreign policy think tank receives Commonwealth funding but operates independently of government.

ASPI has been a fixation of the Albanese government since it took office, with some Labor MPs criticizing what they view as its overly hawkish stance on China.

In 2024, a Labor-commissioned review into government-funded foreign policy think tanks recommended the party have a permanent say on ASPI’s board membership — even from Opposition — and scrap its Washington D.C. office.

Bassi, who was chief of staff to Liberal Foreign Minister Marise Payne, criticized the review for what he labelled “ clear interference ” that undermined ASPI’s independence.

The Albanese government has prioritized stabilizing Australia’s relationship with China, its biggest trading partner, after a collapse in the bilateral relationship under the Morrison government. In 2020, China imposed a series of tariffs on Australian goods after Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19.

Many Labor MPs privately argue ASPI is partisan and undermines Australia’s attempts to stabilize the China relationship. Several Labor luminaries — including former Prime Minister Paul Keating, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr, and Kim Carr — have made those criticisms public.

Beijing itself has singled out ASPI for criticism, labeling it “anti-China” and including funding for the organization on its list of 14 grievances with Australia, which a Chinese diplomat leaked to the media in 2020.

ASPI had published a series of reports on China, including allegations of foreign interference in Australia and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

“(Australia) provided funding to (an) anti-China think tank for spreading untrue reports, peddling lies around Xinjiang and so-called China infiltration aimed at manipulating public opinion against China,” the leaked dossier said.

A report from The Nightly in 2024 also revealed that Chinese state hackers had singled out ASPI as a target.

Last year, Bassi penned an op-ed for The Australian criticizing the government’s response to rising antisemitism in Australia. Its opening line cited German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer on resisting Nazi Germany, saying: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.”

One Labor MP, granted anonymity to speak freely, said the comparison sparked anger in the Prime Minister’s Office.

ASPI council chair Gai Brodtmann, a former Labor MP, departed the organization in June.

Former Labor senator David Feeney, who came up through the Victorian ALP ranks with Defence Minister Richard Marles who oversees ASPI, was appointed to ASPI’s board in 2025 and is now acting chair.