An activist from Hong Kong with a Chinese bounty on his head has questioned why the territory's police force trained in Australia.
Beijing cracked down on civil liberties in Hong Kong, with a broad sweeping national security law leading to the arrest of activists and dissidents on secretive charges.
Hong Kong police officers met with Australian Federal Police management, toured departments in Canberra and Perth and discussed "policing issues" earlier this month.
Kevin Yam, who is now in Australia, said he didn't doubt the AFP's professionalism "but at the same time, it's not a nice feeling when there is a bounty over your head and the Hong Kong police is literally at our doorstep".
The Australian lawyer warned about potential national security risks.
"Hopefully there will be closer scrutiny about partnership arrangements and the like with Hong Kong authorities going forward," he told ABC TV on Tuesday.
Officials needed to be wary of all Chinese officials coming to Australia given Beijing was the nation's number one security concern, opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said.
There was "no separation whatsoever" between the Hong Kong police and the Chinese Communist Party after China passed the national security law, Senator Paterson said.
He said Hong Kong's autonomy had been completely eroded.
"We've seen the Hong Kong police being at the frontline arresting pro-democracy protesters, arresting opposition MPs, arresting unionists and even putting bounties on the heads of an Australian citizen and an Australian permanent resident," he told AAP.
Senator Paterson pressed AFP brass in a Senate hearing about why the officers were able to visit a cyber co-ordination centre.
It would be "deeply ironic" if Australia engaged in cyber co-operation with police officers from "the number one source of state-sponsored cyber attacks", he said.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said he understood concerns given the nature of the policing system after Beijing's crackdown.
But he defended the visit, saying his organisation maintained links with some trusted officers in Hong Kong.
"There are officers who have been there a long time who are still very good officers," he told a Senate hearing on Monday night.
"We have looked after some of those particular officers who are trusted officers."
Mr Kershaw said he didn't believe the fight for the rule of law in the special administrative region was over but admitted: "maybe I'm too optimistic".
"They're doing what they can," he said of some Hong Kong officers.
"Certainly we've been providing support to particular leaders in that police force."
Australia also shared intelligence with China and Hong Kong to help tackle drug smuggling, the commissioner said.
But while the AFP could believe it was imparting knowledge about the rule of law, "we know that the Hong Kong police has a track record of taking whatever good things they might learn ... and use it for crackdown purposes", Mr Yam said.
Australia needed to ensure it didn't inadvertently facilitate Chinese crackdowns, he said.
