Agreements vs. foreign interference
The Minister stated, in introducing the Bills, that they would "create a process where we are all—federal, state, territory and local governments—working effectively together to ensure arrangements are consistent with our national approach to foreign relations".
Despite the stated focus on ensuring an alignment in arrangements, these Bills do nothing of the sort. The political debate around the Bill is centred on foreign interference, with the Prime Minister stating that "where any foreign government seeks to undermine the sovereignty of Australia's foreign policy by seeking to do deals with subnational governments, Australia needs to protect itself from that".
The Australian Greens agree that where interference by any foreign government occurs, it is a serious issue that must be addressed. However we do not believe that this Bill is the way to address it. And in particular we believe that this approach ignores the considerable risk of foreign interference in Australia’s electoral system resultant from the systematic influence of corporations and corporate donations. The Australian Greens have long advocated for reforms to address corporate influence on politics, including electoral donations reform and a federal anti-corruption commission.
Concerns about process
In addition to our concerns that this legislation is not the appropriate way to address issues of foreign interference, the Australian Greens have fundamental concerns about the rushed process and lack of consultation leading to the current legislation.
Given the significance of the proposed new framework, a transparent public consultation process on draft legislation would have enabled the Bills to be refined and clarified. In addition to the lack of exposure draft legislation, a short Committee process only enabled two public hearings on what is a significant, complex new framework with major implications for a wide range of organisations.
The lack of consultation is reflected in the many submissions from Australian universities, raising a wide range of concerns about the Bills as drafted. In their submission to the Committee, Universities Australia captured the concerns of a wide range of institutions, noting that:
Apart from the inherent issues with the Bill, its workability and the potential to deter the collaboration that is the lifeblood of Australian research, there is a range of outstanding questions. These apply to the Bill, but also to the rules that will accompany it …Further detailed consultation is required with the sector on the core issues with the Bill, as well as the many questions inherent in it.
The Australian Greens share those fundamental concerns about the consultation process that led to the development of these Bills, and believe that further consultation is required to ensure stakeholder concerns are adequately understood and addressed.
This is particularly the case given concerns that have been raised about the constitutional validity of the Bills - for example, Professor George Williams argued that:
The Constitution does not vest exclusive responsibility in the Commonwealth for these matters. In fact, the power over external affairs in section 51 of the Constitution, as reflected in other parts of the Constitution, is held concurrently by both the Commonwealth and the states…
Given these complexities, it is important that constitutional issues are fully understood and addressed, rather than rushed through with inadequate consultation. The very concept that the Foreign Minister should have the power to override arrangements that state and local governments and Universities make with foreign jurisdictions and organisations is something that needs to be thoroughly canvassed with all the affected entities.
Greens vision
Instead of proceeding down this path the Greens believe there are a number of other measures that would be of much greater value in addressing foreign interference in our political systems and universities.
To genuinely ensure integrity and transparency in Australia’s political system and ward against undue foreign interference, the Commonwealth should:
Enact donations reform, by banning political donations from mining, property development, tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries, and capping all other donations and making sure every donation over $1000 is disclosed publicly, in real time; and
Rooting out corruption by establishing a federal anti-corruption commission that can undertake investigations of politicians.
If the Commonwealth wants to ensure there is no risk of foreign interference in universities, and strengthen their capacity to undertake independent research, a key step is providing secure, adequate funding. Legislative changes have shifted the costs of university education onto students and away from the Commonwealth, with dire consequences for student debt and public funding of university for years to come.
The Commonwealth should adequately fund universities, including:
increasing research funding,
increasing the Commonwealth contribution to enable free higher education, and
increase funding per-Commonwealth Supported Place student by 10 percent.
Submissions to this inquiry have raised significant concerns about the extensive scope of the proposed framework, the very broad or complete lack of definitions for key terms (including foreign policy, foreign relations and what constitutes an arrangement), and the lack of transparency and review in relation to Ministerial decisions. The Greens’ vision is for an alternative approach, which provides transparency, accountability, and a clear statement of Australia’s foreign policy. That approach should include:
Clear statements by the Foreign Minister to Parliament, outlining foreign policy principles on a regular basis;
The Commonwealth government proactively providing resources, expertise and support to subsidiary levels of government, including state and territory and local government as needed, on questions that relate to foreign policy to build capacity for these actors to assess risks of foreign interference and enable them to confidently and transparently engage in legitimate foreign partnerships;
Close, cooperative engagement between different levels of government, enabling a collaborative approach at all levels of Australia’s federation.
Conclusion
The Australian Greens recognise the importance of addressing threats of foreign interference from any government. But as is clearly outlined in the Committee report but not reflected in the majority recommendation, the current bill has not undergone adequate consultation, has significant flaws, and is not the best approach to address this significant issue.
Recommendation: That the Bill not be passed in its current form.
Senator Janet Rice
Senator for Victoria
Greens Foreign Affairs spokesperson