Foreign agents warned not to ‘run the gauntlet’ on disclosure

Attorney-General Christian Porter said officials are ready to chase down foreign ­actors who chose not to disclose ­allegiances.

Attorney-General Christian Porter.

More than 700 political parties, universities, lobbying firms, media companies and politicians have been warned they could fall foul of a foreign agents register aimed at tracking the role of overseas actors in Australian politics.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said officials were ready to chase down foreign ­actors who chose to “run the gauntlet’’ rather than disclose ­allegiances, under the new Foreign­ Influence Transparency Scheme.

With the three-month grace period expiring tomorrow, 10 entities have so far self-reported, a fraction of the hundreds of indiv­iduals and groups likely to fall within the register’s scope.

Mr Porter said he was not surprise­d by the small number of names on the list, but expected it to grow rapidly. “I think you will have more coming on line for registration as we get closer to the election, simply becau­se activities that require registration are more vigorously pursued during election campaigns­,’’ he said.

The FITS was one of a suite of measures unveiled by the Turnbul­l government aimed at cracking down on foreign actors working covertly to influence Australian politics.

The government overhauled espionage provisions, banned foreign­ political donations and created a new offence called “unlawful foreign interference’’ that criminalises covert, malign forms of foreign interference.

While the measures apply to all forms of foreign interference, they are widely interpreted as a response to Chinese interference, which security agencies say is at “unprecedented levels’’.

“Hostile intelligence activity poses a real and potential existential threat to Australian security and sovereignty,’’ ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis said in ­October.

The FITS, which captures lawful forms of foreign influence such as lobbying on behalf of foreign companies, has been modelled on similar schemes in the US and UK. It has proved to be difficult to police as the types of activities it seeks to capture can be subject to differing ­interpretations.

The FITS does not require foreign principals such as companies, governments or cultural institutes to register but rather their locally engaged agents.

Mr Porter said he expected most would register voluntarily but the government was “fully anticipat­ing’’ some would “run the gauntlet’’. That would prompt the secretary of the Attorney-General to demand they show cause as to why they should be exempt­ from the register.