What is the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme and how does it work?
The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) is a statute-based scheme designed to provide the Australian government and public with “visibility of the nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia’s government and politics”.
How does it work?
The scheme requires all foreign entities, organisations, and individuals to register their intended activities in Australia in a government registration portal – the details of which, with the exception of commercial/politically sensitive or national security-related information, will be published online on the publicly accessible Transparency Register.
Registration Requirements
The government provides a questionnaire to help would-be registrants determine if they need to register their activities. If an organisation, entity, or individual seeks to act on behalf of a foreign principal (a foreign government or foreign political organisation) or engage in a registrable arrangement, it must register its intentions.
Failing to do so is a criminal offense that could lead to a punishment that includes a prison sentence of up to five years.
Registrable Activities
The Attorney-General’s office identifies four types of acceptable registrable activities in Australia:
- Parliamentary Lobbying
- General Political Lobbying
- Communications Activity
- Disbursement Activity
Examples of this can include organising a rally protesting a particular government policy or distributing pamphlets and making public statements in favour of a particular government decision.
Foreign Influence vs Interference
Where a foreign influence is open and transparent about its actions, the inverse of this is foreign interference, which involves clandestine or deceptive actions involving collaboration with a foreign principal with the intention of harming a person or Australia. Engaging in such activities can lead to a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Factsheet 15: Information and Documentation Requirements
The factsheet explains what information and documents (including supporting documentation) registrants are expected to supply in relation to their intended activities.
Registration Information
Circumstances and Accuracy: all information provided by registrants is expected to be accurate and up to date. Should there be any change in circumstances, a grace period of 14 days will be provided to update information online. Failure to do so will result in penalties and will be considered an offense.
Changing Circumstances: Registrants should update their information if any of the five following circumstances change:
- They begin engaging in a new registrable activity for their foreign principal
- The existing arrangement with a foreign principal results in the assignment of a new registrable activity
- An exemption ceases to apply
- A change in financial considerations
- A voting period is declared
Registration Activity Information
Prior to and as they engage in their intended activities, registrants will be expected to provide – and update – information related to their undertakings, including:
- Dates: The start, end, regularity, and engagement dates for activities, meetings, lobbying, and communication/disbursement activities.
- Purpose: The political process and issue/subject matter the activity seeks to influence.
- Lobbying: The date, time, location, person/group involved, lobbying type, and copies of meeting minutes/correspondences.
- Communications: Information must be provided about the format of the activity, the audience/recipients involved, and copies of images, written texts, messages, audio communications, and urls for online communications.
- Political Persons: Registrants must provide information on engagements with political persons (“former Cabinet ministers or recent designated position holders”) including:
- Any information about the relationship between the political persons and the foreign principal
- Any previous or recent political roles the registrant may have held and their relevance to any engagements or activities the registrant undertook
Disclosure of Relationships
The information a registrant provides about their relationships with a foreign principal should include the following:
- The nature of the agreement: Is there an agreed-upon arrangement between the two parties? Or is the registrant acting in the service of, or under the order or direction of the foreign principal?
- Activity information: This includes the activities intended to be carried out, the expectations established between the registrant and foreign principal, as well as all activity-related correspondences between them and evidence of the agreement/contract/binding documents.
- Consideration information: Data – including transactional evidence (e.g. receipts) about the consideration or remuneration structure (whether direct or indirect), frequency, value, and any known benefits.
Key Takeaways
The guidance provided in Factsheet 15 serves a two-fold function: to ensure all registrants seeking to influence Australian governmental and political processes understand their legal obligations, and to guarantee that all intended activities are transparent, respectful of Australia’s laws, and are not illegal acts of foreign interference.
