Australian government to do more to counter foreign interference: Minister

• Clare O’Neil has warned that foreign interference is a major threat to Australian democracy.
• She cited that Australian intelligence services had prevented Iran from spying on Iranian Australians.
• A university foreign interference task force is collaborating with the ASIO.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said on Tuesday that the Australian government intends to “expose” foreign espionage activities that are aimed at politicians, academics, and community leaders.

In a lecture to the National Security College of the Australian National University, she stated that foreign meddling is a major threat to Australian democracy and that the nation is dealing with “enormously important geopolitical issues.”

She said that foreign countries have spied on protests, taken photos of demonstrators, and subtly impacted the subjects discussed at colleges.

She cited one instance in which Australian intelligence services had prevented Iran from spying on Iranian Australians, but she said that “foreign interference does not just come from one country.”

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used claims of the Chinese government meddling in Australian politics and academics when foreign interference legislation was proposed to the Australian parliament in 2018, which infuriated Beijing.

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O’Neil made no mention of China in her remarks. Recently, diplomatic efforts have been made between China and Australia, and Beijing has started to relax trade restrictions on Australian coal and agricultural exports.

“Foreign governments try to win over elected leaders and party activists push for changes in everything from planning laws to foreign and national security policy, or simply to build a picture of how decisions are made,” she said, adding that this sort of interference was not hypothetical.

She continued by saying that Australia will not stand for instances in which foreign governments surveilled lawful protestors in Australia or engaged in the collection of sensitive personal data on dissidents.

In order to combat “real and increasingly sophisticated” threats, she said, a university foreign interference taskforce was collaborating with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

“It should be no secret or surprise the university sector is a target of foreign interference,” O’Neil said.

“ASIO has stated that foreign intelligence services and their proxies ‘are all too willing to take advantage of the openness that is integral to our universities and research institutions to steal intellectual property and cutting-edge technologies.'”

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