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

Thank you, Senator Smith. As you know, the threat of covert foreign interference is a problem of the highest order and is getting worse. The Director-General of ASIO, which is, of course, the agency primarily responsible for investigating espionage and foreign interference, has advised that foreign intelligence activity against Australia continues to occur on an unprecedented scale. Espionage and covert foreign interference can cause immense harm to our national sovereignty, to the safety of our people, to our economic prosperity and to the very integrity of Australian democracy. And we are increasingly seeing public reports of the insidious effect of covert foreign interference being directed against other liberal democracies as well, whether it be through interference in democratic elections or the stifling of free and open debate within our own community.

This government has already embarked on a significant program of legislative and policy reform to ensure the Australian people and Australia's interests are protected from the threat of espionage and covert foreign interference. In May this year, the Prime Minister asked me to undertake a comprehensive review of Australia's espionage and foreign interference laws. That review has now been completed. Before the end of this year, the government will introduce a comprehensive suite of reforms to address a broad spectrum of foreign interference and covert political influence activity in Australia. Those reforms will include legislation to ban foreign political donations, legislation to enhance and reform the espionage and foreign interference related offences in the Criminal Code, and introducing a foreign influence transparency scheme, modelled, in part, on the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act.