Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a serious question for the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General update the Senate on what the government is doing to counter the threat of foreign interference?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to 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.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Back, a supplementary question.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Attorney-General for his answer and ask if the Attorney-General can outline what the government is doing to respond to the threat of foreign political influence, especially through foreign donations.

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

What we propose to do, Senator Back, is ban them. The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters examined the issue of foreign political donations and the desirability of regulating or prohibiting them in its interim report, which was delivered in March of this year. In that report, JSCEM recommended that foreign political donations be banned. The Prime Minister, when the JSCEM interim report was delivered, announced that the government would be acting to do so.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When?

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

I can tell you, Senator Farrell, that we will be introducing legislation this year for that very purpose. The Special Minister of State, Senator Ryan, and I have already been in discussion with the Solicitor-General, Dr Donaghue, in relation to certain constitutional issues. I expect that Senator Ryan will be in a position to introduce the bill in the spring session. (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about brown paper bags?

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Macdonald and Senator Cameron! Senator Back—a final supplementary question?

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do have one, thank you. Is the Attorney-General aware of alternative responses to the issue of foreign political influence?

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

Thank you, Senator Back. I am certainly aware of the way in which the Australian Labor Party has dealt with the issue—indeed, have dismissed the issue. Of course, as we know, the most infamous recent example of foreign political donations being used to buy political influence is our colleague Senator Sam Dastyari over there, who winks at me across the chamber. No, Senator Dastyari—it is not a joke! It is not a joke, and your conduct is not a joke either.

Senator Dastyari was very briefly benched over there in the nether regions of the Senate by his leader, Mr Shorten, and a matter of months later rehabilitated so that he now sits as part of the Labor Party's Senate leadership team. That makes a mockery of the Labor Party's concern about this issue. It is an absolute mockery.

Senator Dastyari, I like you personally, but what you did to compromise the Australian Labor Party and to compromise yourself was a disgrace! (Time expired)