George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I can. Thank you for that question and for your long and thoughtful contribution for years as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Legislation Committee, which has been seized with this issue, of course, for a long time.

I have already observed that the threat of political interference by foreign intelligence services and their agents is a problem of the highest order, and it is getting worse. Those views were endorsed by no less a person than General Jim Clapper at the Press Club only last week. Espionage and covert foreign interference by nation states is a global reality which can cause immense harm to our national sovereignty, to the safety of our people, to our economic prosperity and to the very integrity of our democracy.

ASIO was originally established to investigate foreign intelligence activity, and a significant proportion of its resources continue to be dedicated to this work. But we must stay ahead of the game, and we are. So in May of this year the Prime Minister wrote to me asking me to undertake a comprehensive review of Australia's espionage and foreign interference laws. That review was already underway. As part of that process, I and those who advise me are considering the adequacy and the effectiveness of the espionage and treason offences in the Commonwealth Criminal Code; the merit of creating specific foreign interference offences; relevant international frameworks, including foreign regimes including the American Foreign Agents Registration Act—or FARA Act; and whether there are complementary provisions that would strengthen our agency's ability to investigate and prosecute acts of espionage and foreign interference. Bound up in all of that, of course, are particular types of foreign interference, including the acceptance of money from foreign donors, to which I will return.