Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Cash. Can the minister outline to the Senate the approach that the Morrison government is taking to protect Australia and its institutions from the threat of foreign interference?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Stoker for the question. The Morrison government is committed to protecting our nation, our people and our sovereignty. Our government takes allegations of foreign interference and espionage seriously, and the allegations raised this week are concerning. As the Director-General of Security has consistently stated, the Australian public faces an unprecedented level of foreign interference, and we are going to deal with it. The government is not naive to the threats that we face. We have been actively strengthening our capacity to protect Australia from foreign interference.

In April last year the government appointed the first-ever National Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator to coordinate whole-of-government efforts to respond to acts of foreign interference and administer Australia's Counter Foreign Interference Strategy. In the last parliament we enacted a ban on foreign political donations to ensure that election campaigning that targets Australians is not sponsored by foreign governments, foreign billionaires or foreign companies. We have introduced a number of legislative measures to tighten our laws to make it more difficult for foreign actors to interfere. These include the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Act, the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act, the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act and the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Act.

The Australian people should have confidence that our nation is better equipped to deal with this issue, thanks to the strong action that the government has taken. The Morrison government will do everything possible to keep the Australian public safe.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Stoker, a supplementary question?

Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What action has the government taken to ensure the integrity of our elections from foreign interference?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a government we have taken action to protect Australia and Australia's institutions from foreign interference. Protecting our election processes is vital. To further strengthen our political system against interference, in the lead-up to the last election, we established the Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce, a cross-government task force. The task force was led by the Australian Electoral Commission and the Department of Finance and coordinated closely with Australian security and law enforcement agencies. The Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce agencies did not identify foreign interference that undermined the integrity of the 2019 federal election. We, of course, must be vigilant. We need to ensure that we protect Australians and our institutions from inappropriate foreign interference. The government has taken and is taking action.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Stoker, a final supplementary question?

Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, to what extent does managing a strong economy enable us to invest in Australia's intelligence agencies so that we are better able to protect Australia from foreign interference?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the unspoken benefits of managing a strong economy is that it enables us to invest further in our intelligence and security agencies. Because of our strong economic management, over the next four years we're investing approximately $35 million into these agencies to counter foreign interference, including $6.7 million to the AFP, $8.5 million to the Office of the DPP, $1 million to the A-G's department and $3.9 million to DFAT. Our strong economic management has also enabled us to put $14.5 million into ASIO. ASIO's budget for the current financial year is the highest it has ever been. The Australian people can be reassured that the Morrison government is using the benefits of our strong economy to invest in our agencies to keep Australia safe.