- Introduction
- Section 70 of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (FITS Act) requires the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to initiate a review of the operation, effectiveness and implications of the scheme established by the FITS Act.
- The review was required to be commenced by the third anniversary of the day the Act commenced. The Committee launched the review on 6August 2021, earlier than the 10 December 2021 date required under the Act.
Overview of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018
1.3The stated purpose of the FITS Act is to ‘provide the public with visibility of the nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia's government and politics’.
1.4In general, the FITS Act creates an obligation for people and organisations who undertake registrable activities (defined in sections 13, 20 and 21 of the Act) on behalf of a foreign principal (section 11) for the purpose of political or governmental influence (section 12), to register these details on a public register hosted by the Attorney-General’s Department. The ability for interested members of the public to view this register provides transparency of those actions, as registered.
1.5The Attorney-General’s Department provides an overview of the scheme on its website:
Broadly speaking, any person is required to register if:
- they undertake registrable activities or enter into a registrable arrangement, and
- the activity is, or will be undertaken in Australia on behalf of a foreign principal, and
- the activity is undertaken for the purpose of political or governmental influence, and
- no exemptions apply.
In some cases this may depend on whether the person has held a senior public position in Australia.
A foreign principal includes:
- a foreign government
- a foreign political organisation
- a foreign government related entity
- a foreign government related individual.
Registrable activities include:
- parliamentary lobbying
- general political lobbying
- communications activities
- disbursement activity (payment of money or things of value).
There are also additional registration obligations for activities undertaken by former Cabinet Ministers and recent designated position holders (e.g. former Commonwealth politicians, their staff and senior public servants).
If the Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department is satisfied that a person is a foreign government related entity or individual, the scheme also allows for the Secretary to issue a transparency notice – which makes this determination clear to the public.
The scheme also establishes criminal offences for:
- failing to comply with obligations under the scheme
- failing to register in circumstances where a person is required to do so
- providing false or misleading information and destroying records to avoid registration obligations.
- More detail about the provisions of the Act and their development and implementation is provided in Chapter 2.
Conduct of the review
1.7The former Committee announced the review by media release on Friday, 6 August 2021.
1.8The Committee invited submissions from interested members of the public and relevant government and non-government stakeholders. Submissions were requested by Monday, 29 November 2021.
1.9With the calling of the general election on 10 April 2022 and the subsequent proroguing of Parliament and dissolution of the House of Representatives on 11 April 2022, the former Committee ceased to exist, before the review was completed.
1.10The new Committee was established in the 47th Parliament in September 2022. It adopted and relaunched the review on 7 September 2022, accepted the evidence received by the former Committee and continued to receive any further submissions tendered for the remainder of the timing of the review.
1.11The review received 20 submissions and five supplementary submissions. A list of submissions received is included at Appendix A.
1.12The former Committee received a private briefing from the Attorney-General’s Department and other relevant individuals in late 2021 regarding the operation of the scheme, and the current Committee received updated briefings in October 2022 and February 2023.
1.13The Committee held one public hearing on 21 February 2023. A list of witnesses who appeared before the Committee is included at Appendix B.
1.14Copies of submissions, a transcript of proceedings from the public hearing and links to the current FITS Act can be accessed from the review webpage.
Report structure
1.15This report consists of four chapters:
- This chapter sets out the context and conduct of the review;
- Chapter 2 provides an overview of the FITS, its establishment and implementation, and its operation to date;
- Chapter 3 discusses the evidence received by the review regarding the FITS; and
- Chapter 4 provides the Committee’s comments and recommendations.
Legislation history and previous Committee inquiry
1.16The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017 (FITS Bill) was introduced to the House of Representatives on 7 December 2017, alongside the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 (EFI Bill), by the then Prime Minister, the HonMalcolm Turnbull MP.
1.17The justification for the introduction of both Bills was outlined in the Second Reading Speech, but the Prime Minister emphasised the following regarding the FITS Bill:
The legislation I am introducing today is designed to reinforce the strengths of our open democratic system while shoring up its vulnerabilities.
I mentioned earlier that our Counter Foreign Interference Strategy has four pillars: sunlight, enforcement, deterrence and capability.
Of these, sunlight is at the very centre.
To ensure activities are exposed to sunlight, following an extensive review by the Attorney-General, we are introducing a new Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.
The principle is quite straightforward.
If a person or entity engages with the Australian political landscape on behalf of a foreign state or principal then they must register accordingly.
This will give the Australian public and decision-makers proper visibility when foreign states or individuals may be seeking to influence Australia's political processes and public debates.
The link could be a financial relationship or some other form of arrangement.
Registration requirements are carefully structured so that the closer you get to the heart of Australian politics, the more likely it is that you must register.
Being registered under the scheme should not be seen as any kind of taint. And certainly not as a crime.
To the contrary it is applying the basic principles of disclosure to allow the public and policymakers to assess any underlying agenda.
But if you fail to disclose your ties to a foreign principal then you could be liable for a criminal offence.
This is not about shutting down legitimate debate, but rather enabling it.
1.18In essence, the FITS Bill brought forward a proposal for a scheme to legitimise foreign ‘influence’ and make it visible, while the EFI Bill updated and strengthened national security law to respond to foreign ‘interference’.
1.19The FITS Bill was referred to the (former) Committee for review on 8 December 2017. The Committee conducted a comprehensive review of the original Bill, as well as government amendments proposed during the review. During that review the Committee received 140 submissions and supplementary submissions, as well as thousands of form letters, and held eight public hearings. The former Committee handed down its report on 25 June 2018, making 52 recommendations, all of which were accepted or accepted in-principle by the Government.
1.20Following the Committee’s review of the original FITS Bill, and the amended Bill passing Parliament, that Bill received Royal Assent on 29 June 2018 and the scheme commenced on 10 December 2018.
1.21The FITS Act has been amended three times since its commencement, with both 2018 and 2019 amendment Acts introducing minor improvements to provisions regarding historical records, reporting obligations, definitions of communications activity and offence provisions. Amendments in 2023 were of a minor technical nature regarding referencing of information on the public register.
1.22The operation and administration of the FITS since its implementation has been the responsibility of the Attorney-General’s Department.