Exposing China's activities was the ‘key purpose’ of Australia's foreign interference laws, but the scheme has failed to do this, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who introduced the laws, said
Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pauses during a news conference after a party meeting in Canberra, Australia August 24, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray
CANBERRA, Feb 21 - Exposing China's activities was the "key purpose" of Australia's foreign interference laws, but the scheme has failed to do this, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who introduced the laws, said on Tuesday. The Australian government was careful not to name China when introducing laws to prevent foreign interference in 2018, but the move nonetheless sparked tension with Australia's largest trading partner that later developed into a diplomatic freeze.
Turnbull told a parliamentary committee the "key purpose" of a foreign interest register was to disclose the links the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department had formed in Australia. "The most active state and political party seeking to influence public affairs in Australia is China ... but they don't seem to appear on the register," he told a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on Tuesday.
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