Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Payne. In what has been described as a 'rare public speech' last night at the ANU, the foreign minister finally acknowledged the issue of foreign state backed disinformation in Australia. The risks of foreign state backed disinformation have been known for many years, given, for example, the occurrences in Crimea in 2014, the US in 2016 and Hong Kong last year. Can the minister explain why it has taken the government until now to finally act?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I must be having hearing difficulties today, Mr President; it comes with age, I'm sure. But let me start at the beginning. I'd be very happy to send Senator Wong the collected works so that she had ready access to a vast range of remarks! In fact, Senator, I'll have it dropped down to the chamber for you any time—and in fact I'll even table it, if that would assist you with your consideration.

I think what the Australian government has clearly set out—and, indeed, what the Prime Minister talked about at the Lowy Institute—was prosecuting a case for our national interest, and that includes through multilateral institutions. As you know, the Prime Minister instituted the multilateral audit and asked my Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to carry out that audit. Part of that process has meant examining over 100 multilateral institutions, processes and fora, and that has underpinned everything that we have done. What the audit findings have shown us is the value of focusing on our national interest and ensuring that, in doing so, we work within the appropriate systems to achieve outcomes for Australia in our national interest, which should always be the premise upon which—

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

Order. Senator Wong, on a point of order?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On direct relevance: the question is about foreign state backed disinformation, and my question was why the government has taken until now to act, given the examples we have seen internationally.

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

I have allowed you to restate the question. I am listening carefully to the minister's answer. She has 47 seconds remaining.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was responding, I thought, directly to a number of the observations that Senator Wong made in her question. Specifically, if she wishes, in relation to the question of disinformation, what the government has made clear is the threat that disinformation presents, no matter who perpetrates it, to the orderly provision of information in communities—particularly in the context of a pandemic. The critical impact we have seen—the 131 countries that have drawn together with the European Union on a motion drafted by Latvia on the infodemic—is absolutely symbolic of those concerns and of our concern in relation to—

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

Order, Senator Payne. Senator Wong, a supplementary question?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2016 the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters said:

… it is essential that this issue—

of foreign-state-backed disinformation—

be actively considered as a part of Australian elections.

So I again ask: after four years of thinking about it, what is the Morrison government now actually doing, beyond the headlines, to protect Australian elections from foreign-state-backed disinformation?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would remind the senator and those opposite of the passing of the countering-foreign-interference legislation, which is absolutely apposite to the sorts of issues the senator is raising. In the midst of the pandemic and the crisis that we and millions and millions of people around the world have been dealing with, we are absolutely focused on the importance of shining a light on disinformation, because it is the most effective antidote.

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

Senator Wong, a final supplementary question?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In last night's speech, the foreign minister also finally rebuked Mr Morrison's infamous 'negative globalism' speech of last October. Given that the internal opponents of multilateralism within the coalition include Minister Dutton, who says, 'There are other bodies within the UN that aren't acting certainly in the interests of Australia', how will this minister persuade her colleagues that multilateralism is a key Australian national interest?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I absolutely and fundamentally reject the premise of Senator Wong's question. As I was trying to say in my response to her first question, very, very clearly, when the Prime Minister talked at the Lowy Institute he talked about prosecuting a case for our national interests, including through multilateral institutions. He instituted the multilateral audit and asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to carry it out. That audit has been absolutely comprehensive. What it shows us is that Australia has a very important role to play in shaping the values and the norms within multilateral institutions themselves. We are talking about institutions that are extremely important to Australia in terms of advancing our national interest and promoting and protecting our values. Whether they are underpinning the global rules and norms that ensure a level playing field, whether they are regulating international cooperation in areas like aviation, telecommunications, maritime transport, intellectual property and a range of others— (Time expired)