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Labor leader Anthony Albanese is really enjoying whipping out the receipts lately. On Thursday afternoon, as the government continues trying to create what some intelligence experts called “artificial” differences between the two major parties on national security, the Labor leader dipped into the archives to fish out this letter from October 2021:

Labor is trying to stress that its position on national security is fundamentally identical to the Coalition, including on China-related issues around human rights and trade.

The government had also tried to criticise Labor for not backing the Aukus pact more strongly, but Albanese is trying to show that even Scott Morrison has conceded there was a “bipartisan approach” on important security issues.

The latest peek into Albanese’s letterbox comes after he released a letter from the PM over the religious discrimination bill last week, and his attempts to table a 31-year-old university economics essay into parliament.

The United States has said it is “absolutely confident” that Australia’s commitment to the US alliance will remain strong regardless of the Australian election outcome.

The US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Kritenbrink, also said the US was “reassured that these principles that we hold dear and our vitally important alliance transcends politics and any one party”.

Kritenbrink made the comments during a phone call briefing on US secretary of atate Antony Blinken’s recent travel to Australia, Fiji and Hawaii. Blinken and other US officials met with Labor’s Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong while in Melbourne.

Because this matter is politically fraught in the current environment, I will include my full question and Kritenbrink’s full answer:

Q: Daniel Hurst from Guardian Australia. “Thanks for taking my question, Assistant Secretary Kritenbrink. The US delegation, while in Australia, met with both sides of Australian politics. There’s an election coming up here. Obviously, I’m not asking you to comment on the election. But how confident are you that Australia’s commitment to the US alliance, its commitment to Aukus, and its commitment to cooperate with the US on strategic challenges will remain strong regardless of the election outcome?”

Kritenbrink: “Thank you for your question. Absolutely confident is my answer. Of course, we were delighted to be in Australia. We were delighted to reaffirm with our Australian allies that our alliance is the anchor for peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. And we reaffirmed that in our meetings with with the prime minister, with the foreign minister and others, but as is often the case when we visit our democratic partners, we also had the opportunity to meet with the opposition.

“And we came away reassured that these principles that we hold dear and our vitally important alliance transcends politics and any one party and we came away absolutely confident that whomever the Australian people select as their new leadership, as their next leadership, in the upcoming election, we’re confident that the US-Australia alliance will endure and remain as strong as ever.”

Given the government has been thundering about its bills being a test for Labor, you might wonder why the firearms bill just sailed through with Labor support.

The shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, told Guardian Australia the leadership group had decided to support the bill on Thursday morning.

Keneally described the bill as “fairly straightforward” and said Labor’s vote was consistent with the caucus position adopted in 2019 that, when in opposition, “while we don’t support mandatory minimums we’re not going to let that stand in the way of achieving the important outcomes to tackle serious crimes”.

Labor will not seek to amend the bill in the Senate.

Keneally said:

We can’t govern from opposition – Mr Morrison seemed quite clear in his intent to politicise national security in the context of an election, trying to manufacture a difference with the opposition when, in reality, one does not exist.

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews claims prime minister Scott Morrison has “clearly done the right thing” by ratcheting up the national security and China conversation, even as intelligence experts warn against the government’s approach.

But Andrews refused to endorse the incendiary “Manchurian candidate” insults the prime minister lobbed at Labor in parliament on Wednesday, claiming she was focusing on issues “at a higher level”.

Andrews, whose home affairs portfolio has carriage over national security and foreign interference, was asked at a press conference about comments from Morrison and defence minister Peter Dutton this week, who have sought to claim Labor leader Anthony Albanese was Beijing’s “pick” for the coming election. Andrews said:

The prime minister has clearly done the right thing by indicating where there are points of difference between the Labor Party and the Coalition government.

What he is doing is emphasising those differences.

Labor argues its approach on national security and foreign interference is near-identical to the Coalition, including China-specific issues around Hong Kong, Taiwan, human rights concerns and trade.

Asio director-general Mike Burgess has warned several times this week about the “politicisation” of his spy agency, and stressed foreign interference issues affected both sides of politics. Former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson today criticised the creation of “artificial” partisan differences on national security, saying it was not in the national interest.

When asked by journalists about those concerns, Andrews conceded there was “a range of views that are circulating at the moment” and that there would be “other people that will have their own views”.

Asked whether Labor deputy leader Richard Marles was a “Manchurian candidate”, as alleged by Morrison in question time, Andrews responded “I’m not going to comment on that, my interests are quite frankly at a higher level… the national security interests of Australia are first and foremost.”