Australia's foreign influence regime is coming under scrutiny, with experts warning the current laws are ill-defined and are leaving efforts to influence the nations politicians and institutions unchecked.
- Foreign influence scheme is being reviewed by the intelligence and security committee
- Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who unveiled the laws in 2017, is now a critic
- There is debate that the 'country agnostic' regime needs to be targeted to specific countries
The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) was unveiled by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in December 2017.
Mr Turnbull is now on the register, and will join criticism of the scheme in an appearance before Federal Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) on Tuesday.
"We're in a very volatile geostrategic environment," PJCIS chair and Labor MP Peter Khalil said.
"We're looking at whether the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme… has actually done what it's supposed to do.
"That is, be able to register people who are involved in activities for foreign principals, and whether it's done that — effectively or not — to aid and increase the transparency within our system."
Mr Turnbull is not the only former prime minister listed, joined by former Labor leader Kevin Rudd on the register.
Mr Turnbull's listing was as a result of delivering speeches in Taiwan and South Korea in 2021, while Mr Rudd has complained of joining the register after giving interviews to the state-owned broadcasters BBC and Al Jazeera.
Mr Khalil suggested the addition of the two men on the register raised the issue of whether it was casting the net too wide in trying to pick up activity for "foreign entities", while missing serious but hidden instances of foreign influence.
"Why is that activity given that it's in the public domain, obviously an interview on the BBC is in the public domain — does that have to be captured?" Mr Khalil asked.
Fellow former prime minister Tony Abbott is on the register after advising the UK Government on trade matters.
There are 112 individuals and entities currently on the register — the bulk of their activities relating to what the legislation describes as foreign government related entities, which is an entity totally or substantially controlled by a foreign government.
China, the United States and Japan were cited as the countries most commonly behind their endeavours according to the Attorney-General's Department, which manages the scheme.
The PJCIS chair said the committee would also consider whether there needed to be a departure from the "country agnostic" approach at the hearing of the scheme, and whether it needed to be targeted towards specific countries trying to influence Australian politicians and institutions.
Last week, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil warned foreign interference in Australia was getting worse and detailed efforts by domestic spy agency ASIO to disrupt an Iranian government backed operation.
"We need to make sure that the provisions, specific legislative provisions are capturing influence that comes from authoritarian countries," Katherine Mansted from ANU's National Security College said.
"Sometimes it looks different to influence that comes from democratic countries, sometimes it's more hidden, sometimes it's more complex, sometimes it's more informal.
"For my part I don't think we need to have lists of countries of concern — ultimately the foreign influence register is not a sort of naming and shaming list, it's actually a transparency tool."
The higher education sector has frequently been cited as a fertile area for foreign interference, through avenues such as philanthropy and research agreements with foreign partners.
But chief executive of the Group of Eight universities, Vicki Thomson, said the sector had little exposure to register.
"Confucius Institutes must have been the most scrutinised agreements in universities over the last few years," she said.
"Yet none have yet received a term, a determination or ruling under either the FITS Act or the foreign arrangements scheme.
"I'm just not sure that this piece of legislation, in and of itself, is actually delivering what the government intended."
Ms Thomson said the university sector was subject to a range of overlapping regulations dealing with foreign influence.