In the old days, the reds conveniently confined themselves to being under the bed, but according to The Australian, now we have to watch out for them hiding in our broadband cabling.

It’s not altogether clear where The Oz’s Cameron Stewart (author of “Telstra helped catch Bali bombers” ) got his information for today’s attack on Optus’s alleged links with the Chinese military, but excluded broadband tenderer Telstra would have to be the short-priced favourite. Particularly given the way now-departed Telstra spinner Phil Burgess always liked to play to our xenophobia by complaining that Optus was a foreign-owned company.

As opposed to an Australian company run by a bunch of foreigners, of course.

Sinophobia is also a peculiar response at a time when, supposedly, Australia will have to compete harder to attract international capital – when, indeed, China, even with falling growth rates, remains, in the words of one commentator, a “lifeline” for the Australian economy. Still, consistency was never a strong point at The Oz.