Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet) | Hansard source

I thank the member of Barker for his question, knowing his concern for foreign influences in our democracy, because now more than ever we must be alert and ensure we have the appropriate laws in place to stop foreign entities, foreign governments, foreign companies and foreign foundations from infiltrating our Australian electoral system. Only Australians should influence the Australian electoral system. Only Australian money should be used to influence Australians and how they cast a vote. And, when money is received by anybody, it needs to be appropriately disclosed in accordance with the laws of this land.

But our national security agencies are warning us about threats to our democracy from overseas. The ASIO director-general recently unveiled that they had disrupted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an Australian electoral event—

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