Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Australia has long benefited from international engagement whether it be through education, cultural exchange, research collaboration or trade.

These connections strengthen our economy, enrich our society, and extend our global influence.

But we live in an increasingly complex and contested world. Where foreign engagement brings both opportunities and new risks.

Strategic competition has the potential to play out at every level of engagement between nations, including at a subnational level.

In this environment, it is essential that Australia's international engagement remains consistent with our national interest.

The Foreign Arrangements Scheme was introduced in 2020 to provide visibility and oversight of these foreign engagements.

It applies to state, territory and local governments and public universities, and requires notification, and in some cases approval of, arrangements with foreign entities, particularly foreign government departments, agencies and universities that lack independence in their governance. Since 2020, over 22,000 notifications have been received—demonstrating the breadth of Australia's international engagement and the importance of maintaining appropriate oversight.

The scheme has enabled the Australian government to work cooperatively with states, territories, local governments and universities to support beneficial partnerships while managing risk. Where necessary, it has enabled decisive action, including earlier this year, when the government prohibited entry into two arrangements with Russian and Belarusian entities. In 2024, the government commissioned an independent review of the scheme led by Rosemary Huxtable. As part of the review, Ms Huxtable consulted widely across federal, state, territory and local governments and Australian universities to hear their views and their concerns about the operation and the structure of the scheme. While the review confirmed the scheme is working, it identified opportunities to strengthen its effectiveness. Attention should be concentrated on areas of greatest risk, while compliance should be simplified and the regulatory burden reduced.

This bill responds to the review's findings, and this bill implements a number of those recommendations that were made by Ms Huxtable. Its amendments would strengthen the scheme's framework by sharpening the focus on Australia's national interest and enhancing the tools available to manage risk. The bill will streamline the scheme's operation by simplifying processes and reducing administrative burden, particularly for lower risk arrangements. Together, these reforms ensure that the scheme continues to support international engagement while protecting Australia's interests.

The bill strengthens the legislative framework in several ways. It embeds the national interest explicitly in the object of the act, ensuring decisions are guided by a comprehensive view of Australia's security, economic and foreign policy interests. It expands our ability to manage risk, including by allowing conditions to be imposed on foreign arrangements both at the point of approval and during their operation. This provides a more flexible and proportionate response than outright refusal or cancellation. It enhances whole-of-government coordination by enabling information collected under the scheme to be shared with relevant Commonwealth entities, supporting better informed decision-making across portfolios. It ensures emerging forms of international engagement are appropriately captured, including by extending the scheme to arrangements entered into by overseas campuses of Australian universities. It improves the government's ability to respond to noncompliance, including by allowing the minister to address inadvertent breaches in a flexible and proportionate way. At the same time, the bill reduces unnecessary burden and simplifies the operation of the scheme. It reduces regulatory requirements for lower risk arrangements, including removing unnecessary approval steps for minor variations and renewals of arrangements that have already been assessed.

It clarifies key concepts, such as institutional autonomy, making the scheme easier to apply and reducing administrative complexity for regulated entities. It improves the operation of the public register, ensuring it reflects current arrangements and focuses on the most significant decisions. This enhances its accuracy, usability and transparency. And it gives the government more flexible administrative tools, including targeted delegation and limited extensions of decision timeframes, so that complex arrangements can be properly assessed.

Together, these measures simplify the scheme whilst maintaining appropriate oversight. These reforms strike the right balance. They support Australia's continued international engagement, engagement that delivers enormous economic, cultural and strategic benefit for our nation. They ensure that engagement is conducted in a way that protects Australia's broader national interests. They strengthen risk management, reduce unnecessary burden and modernise the framework to meet the realities of a more contested world. This bill ensures the Foreign Arrangements Scheme remains clear, effective and fit for purpose, supporting openness while safeguarding our national interests.

Debate adjourned.