Federal police are ramping up the fight against foreign interference operations in Australia’s multicultural communities, amid concerns the problem is both under-reported and widespread.
In a campaign that will launch on Monday, the federal police’s community liaison teams, which have previously worked on counter-terrorism campaigns, will meet community and faith leaders to raise awareness about the problem and urge people to report suspected foreign interference to police or community leaders.
The federal police, led by AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw, are targeting foreign interference in multicultural communities.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The move comes after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess last week warned Australia was experiencing the highest level of foreign interference, espionage and terrorism in its history.
Burgess also revealed a so-called “hive of spies” had been disrupted and deported in the past 12 months, which The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald then revealed was a group of Russian spies who had posed as diplomats and were surveilled for more than 18 months before being deported.
AFP special investigations commander Stephen Nutt said foreign governments and their proxies were undertaking hostile activity in Australia and targeting everyone from government decision-makers to human rights activists, dissidents, religious and ethnic minorities and even journalists to silence criticism, monitor their activities, obtain information and promote the policies of foreign governments.
Police believe foreign interference operations are not limited to the usual suspects of China, Russia and Iran either. They say people who have Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian and Laotian backgrounds are also vulnerable to pressure from agents of foreign governments, as well as those from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Fact sheets in 30 languages will be published as part of the federal police’s outreach and a national security hotline – 1800 123 400 – is operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to take tips from the public.
“On a community level, foreign interference is defined as threats and intimidation directed, supervised or financed by foreign governments and targeted towards [culturally and linguistically diverse] communities in order to cause harm and impact on Australia’s multicultural way of life,” Nutt said.
“An example of foreign interference is where a foreign government agent pays an Australian citizen to undertake surveillance of people attending an Australian community discussion about the foreign government, and then reports back on people who were critical of the foreign government.”
“Another example is if a person in Australia willingly assists a foreign government by going to a person’s home or contacts them by telephone to threaten them with serious harm unless they stop criticising the foreign government in online forums.”
Last week, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called for an overhaul of Australia’s foreign interference laws as they had flaws and said countries including China, Russia and Iran may need to be singled out as nations of concern.
The Chinese government’s United Front Work Department, which is tasked with using the diaspora of citizens abroad to gather intelligence and promote Beijing’s message, has been operating in Australia for years but does not appear on the federal government’s foreign influence register.
The AFP does not single out any particular country as a cause for concern.
The legal tests that have to be satisfied to prove a person or group is undertaking a foreign interference operation are high, and include being able to prove that threats such as assault, kidnapping, stalking, surveillance or coercion – including threats to a person’s family overseas – have been made.
Further, to constitute foreign interference under the Crimes Act the activity has to have been supervised, financed or directed by a foreign government or one of its proxies. As a result, state and territory laws are being used in some cases to prosecute people on other charges because of the difficulty in proving foreign interference.
Just one person, Di Sanh Duong, has been charged under the foreign interference laws introduced in Australia in 2018.
Duong (also known as Sunny) is a former Liberal Party candidate who was charged by federal police in November 2020 with preparing an act of foreign interference after making a $37,450 donation to the Royal Melbourne Hospital at the height of the pandemic.
Federal investigators say the donation was a preparatory act to exert influence on Australian politicians. Duong’s case is next in court on March 31 for a directions hearing in front of County Court judge Michael O’Connell.
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