SYDNEY—Australia, concerned about rising Chinese influence, will ban foreign political donations as part of a crackdown aimed at preventing external interference in domestic politics, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
Turnbull told reporters in Canberra that foreign powers were making “unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated attempts to influence the political process” in Australia and the world. He cited “disturbing reports about Chinese influence.”
New laws, modelled in part on the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, would criminalize foreign interference and require the registration of lobbyists working for nation states. The laws would be introduced to parliament to counter perceived vulnerabilities, Turnbull said.
“These are the most significant reforms to foreign interference laws in decades. It will protect our way of life & the democracy that keeps us free,” Turnbull told a press conference in Canberra.
Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in June on a concerted campaign by China to “infiltrate” Australian politics to promote Chinese interests.
China denies the claims, which its Foreign Ministry has described as “totally unfounded and irresponsible.”
The tape, which showed him standing next to property developer Huang Xiangmo, a major political donor with the Chinese Communist Party, was leaked to the media.
“I take those reports, as do my colleagues, very seriously,” Turnbull said. The new laws “are not about any one country,” he said.
“Foreign interference is a global issue,” Turnbull said.
The new laws, should they pass parliament, would ban foreign donations to political parties or any political group that has spent more than AU$100,000 (US$76,350) campaigning in the past four years — a rule that could also likely affect environmental and other campaign groups.
Australia expressed deep concern last month over a crackdown on pro-democracy groups in Cambodia. Despite that, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said foreign donations to activist group GetUp!, a non-partisan but vocal critic of the centre-right government, would be banned under Australia’s new laws.
The definitions of treason and espionage would also be broadened under the new laws to include possessing or receiving sensitive information, rather than just transmitting it.