SA Senate candidate Nick Xenophon under fire for submission for banned Chinese tech giant Huawei

Nick Xenophon has been criticised for work on behalf of banned Chinese tech giant Huawei – despite claiming his law firm “didn’t engage with Canberra”.

Senate hopeful Nick Xenophon has been criticised for making a parliamentary submission on behalf of banned Chinese tech giant Huawei in 2020, despite recently claiming his law firm “didn’t engage with Canberra at all”.

National security experts say Mr Xenophon should have formally declared with the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme his legal work for the company.

Mr Xenophon’s law firm, Xenophon Davis, sent a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in November 2020, opposing the federal security reforms of the telecommunications sector.

“The application of the (reforms) on Huawei has led to the loss of 900 direct jobs, over 1500 subcontracting jobs and over $100m in research and development investment in Australia,” the submission said. “Huawei Australia’s parent company is free of state ownership and owned 100 per cent by staff.”

Pressure continues to mount on Nick Xenophon over his work with banned Chinese tech giant Huawei. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Xenophon represented Huawei between September 2019 and December 2020, protecting its reputation after it was banned from Australia’s 5G mobile rollout over national security concerns.

Last month, he said “we were not lobbyists for them, we didn’t engage with Canberra at all”.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said he believed a submission to parliament was “the very definition of engaging with Canberra”.

He said it raised a “very clear question” about why the candidate was not registered.

“He is running for the national parliament and … parliamentarians need to have views about national issues, including how we relate to China,” he said. “I hope South Australians are sensible enough not to give their vote to Nick Xenophon, I don’t think he deserves a second run.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute Executive Director Peter Jennings called on Mr Xenophon to explain why he didn’t register his work with the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.

Mr Xenophon insists he was not required to register with the scheme, which was set up in 2018 to provide visibility on any foreign influence on Australia’s politics.

“The scheme applies to foreign governments and foreign principals – our client was neither of those, it was an Australian company with a local board,” he said.

He said the law “makes very clear” that legal advice and representation, including “any activity relating to and incidental” of, is exempt.

“That clearly covers any legal advice and representation we gave in the context of a parliamentary inquiry.”

Other South Australians registered include former defence minister Christopher Pyne, who has declared his lobbying work with Masdar Tribe, a renewable energy firm owned by the United Arab Emirates government.

Former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer declared ongoing work with the Gibraltar government in free trade talks with Australia.