James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Earlier this month, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would require ByteDance—a Beijing headquartered company subject to the control of China's Communist Party—to divest control of TikTok to make the app safer for US users. Will our government commit to similar legislation in Australia if the bill passes the US Congress?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to that matter and the issue of the security of Australians, including online, I can assure you that the government will always consider very carefully the advice of security agencies and experts and will act accordingly. The question asked whether we would look at a bill in another jurisdiction and act on that basis. Of course, we will take into account what others are doing—and there is legislation which would have an effect on the company, on TikTok, as you say—but, obviously, we will make policy in Australia considering the Australian circumstances. I would note that, as a consequence of government consideration of this, that particular platform is regulated in terms of whether or not it is on government devices. The senator would be aware of that, and I think he was part of the discussions about that. We always consider very carefully the advice provided by national security agencies on this matter and all matters.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Paterson, a first supplementary?

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the government share the concerns of our counterparts in the United States that a company that can be legally compelled to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies and to keep that cooperation a secret poses significant surveillance and foreign interference risks to Australia?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said, on this security matter, as on all security matters, we will take advice from agencies. I would again make the point that we've taken strong action to restrict access to TikTok on devices that handle sensitive data, in line with advice from intelligence and security agencies. I think it was in April last year that we issued a direction restricting the use of TikTok on government devices. Obviously, we will monitor the bill in the United States.

More broadly, we are concerned about the amount of data collected by social media platforms. We are concerned about the possibility of foreign interference on those platforms. We are concerned about disinformation on those platforms, and we've seen a lot of inaccurate information becoming much more prevalent in our democracy over the period of these last couple of years, and I think all of us need to guard against that.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Paterson, second supplementary?

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister is right. In April last year the Albanese government finally decided to ban TikTok from Commonwealth issued devices, almost a year after the coalition originally called on them to do so, and after all of our Five Eyes partners and many other nations had already acted. Will the Albanese government commit to action to address the national security risks presented by TikTok and ensure that Australia is not again left behind?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that was Senator Paterson delivering his own report card, wasn't it? What I would say, Senator Paterson, is that you know we work through the advice from agencies very carefully. You would also know, given your role and your history, how a democratically elected government deals with the prevalence of disinformation online and the increased disinformation that we see. All of these issues are much more difficult and larger in scale now than they were three-to-five years ago. I would welcome continued bipartisan work together— (Time expired)