Don’t mess with our democracy, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil warns

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has issued a blunt warning to hostile foreign powers seeking to influence democratic processes in Australia.

Clare O Neil says ‘we will not tolerate, under any circumstances, attempts by foreign governments … to secretly influence our cherished democracy’. Picture: John Grainger

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has issued a blunt warning to hostile foreign powers seeking to influence democratic processes in Australia that they would be met with swift action in the wake of revelations the Chinese Communist Party had engaged in a sophisticated strategy to undermine Canada’s election in 2021.

A leaked intelligence brief from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service – shared with officials from the Five Eyes security and intelligence alliance of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – claims an “orchestrated machine” was operating in Canada seeking to influence the outcome of elections.

Ms O’Neil’s warning comes ahead of Tuesday’s annual nat­ional threat assessment to be delivered by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, which will update the risk profile for Australia across a range of threats including espionage, foreign interference and terrorism.

“We will not tolerate, under any circumstances, attempts by foreign governments – and it is important to stress that foreign interference doesn’t just come from one country – to secretly influence our cherished democracy,” Ms O’Neill said. “Nor will attempts to coerce people living in Australia to behave in ways that undermine that democracy for the benefit of a foreign power.

“Foreign interference is relentless, it is insidious, and it not only affects individuals – it fundamentally undermines our democratic processes. The Australian government is doing everything within its power to protect our democracy against any and all attempts to weaken it.”

Last year, the nation’s top domestic spy chief said ASIO had foiled an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2022 federal election. While Mr Burgess didn’t name China as the country behind the plot, members of the intelligence community believed his comments referred to a Chinese businessman backed by the Chinese Communist Party attempting to bankroll Labor candidates in NSW.

According to a report from Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, a leaked classified document from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service revealed CCP operatives employed a “sophisticated strategy to disrupt Canada’s democracy in the 2021 federal election”.

The intelligence dossier, the report claimed, was shared with Five Eyes officials and illustrated how “an orchestrated machine was operating in Canada with two primary aims: to ensure a minority Liberal government was returned in 2021, and that certain Conservative candidates identified by China were defeated”.

Several sources in the Australian intelligence community verified the accuracy of the report and the alleged intelligence leak. Central to the strategy of the interference was to promote the election of MPs sympathetic to Beijing’s claims over Taiwan.

“The CSIS documents reveal that Chinese diplomats and their proxies, including some members of the Chinese-language media, were instructed to press home that the Conservative Party was too critical of China and if elected, it would follow the lead of former US president Donald Trump and ban Chinese students from certain universities or education programs,” the report said.

“CSIS also explained how Chinese diplomats conduct foreign interference operations in support of political candidates and elected officials.

“Tactics include undeclared cash donations to political campaigns or having business owners hire international Chinese students and ‘assign them to volunteer in electoral campaigns on a full-time basis’.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi said the Canadian intelligence brief was concerning but straight out of the “Chinese party-state’s political warfare playbook”.

“We need to be across it and defend against it,” he said. “It is exactly why Australia introduced foreign interference and influence laws five years ago.

“Foreign interference is a key component of the CCP’s authoritarian statecraft. It aims to take advantage of open societies, sow division and create fissures through which Beijing can project its political influence and undermine our sovereignty.”

Last week Ms O’Neil said she had asked the Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator within the Home Affairs Department to develop an attribution framework for the Australian Government.

“We don’t want to just need to disrupt these operations, but we want to deter future ones by imposing costs on their sponsors by outing them, where it is possible to do so,” Ms O’Neil said in a speech last week.

“I would like us to see Australia to do this more and more, because we have to stop this from happening in the shadows. We have to bring it into the light.”

Shadow minister for cyber security, and Liberal member of the PJCIS, James Patterson said the Canadian reports were a “timely” reminder of the threat of foreign interference in Australia’s democracy.

“The Chinese Communist Party is at least as interested in the outcome of Australian elections,” Mr Patterson said.

“The only thing standing in their way are our laws and our agencies. We must ensure our agencies are adequately resourced and our laws remain fit for purpose and are being robustly enforced.”

A public inquiry by the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security will hear evidence on Tuesday on the review of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 amid concerns it was failing to achieve its objectives.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is due to appear, with ASIO and the Department of Home Affairs officials also listed to give evidence.