The Nationals Leader is distancing himself from a former maverick colleague following recent revelations obtained under freedom of information laws.

A 2018 letter from the Australian Federal Police to then-Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton warned that George Christensen was at risk of being blackmailed.

Police said a probe into the Nationals MP’s frequent travel to south-east Asia found he “engaged in activities that could potentially place him at risk of being targeted for compromise by foreign interests”.

There were no allegations of criminal conduct in the letter but alleged Christensen “engages in improper conduct overseas potentially in contravention of Australian law”.

Christensen spent 294 days in the Philippines over four years from 2014-2018, leading to him being dubbed the “Member for Manila” by some of his colleagues.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud says it’s a “sorry affair”.

“George Christensen has never been a mate of mine and it’s a good thing he’s not in this parliament,” he said.

“I think obviously there are national security issues at play here; I wasn’t privy to those but I do know there were strong conversations had, subsequent to George about his travel movements.

“I know that they were curtailed.”

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