The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme: information for community organisations

Foreign Influence
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The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) seeks to provide public visibility of foreign influence in Australia’s political and governmental processes.

Foreign influence is activities undertaken on behalf of a foreign principal for the purpose of political or governmental influence in Australia that is open and transparent and respectful of our people, society and democratic systems. Foreign influence activities are permitted in Australia as set out below.

When to register

The FITS may apply to your community organisation in 2 ways:

  • Your community organisation may have registration obligations if it undertakes registrable activities in Australia on behalf of a foreign principal for the purpose of political or government influence, or enters into a registrable arrangement (regardless of whether or not you actually do the activities) and no exemptions apply.
  • If your community organisation is itself a foreign principal, then others who undertake registrable activities on your organisation’s behalf may also have registration obligations.

You can check if your community organisation needs to register by completing the questionnaire.

Registration is a legal requirement and not registering when required to do so is a criminal offence punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

Registering an activity does not mean you have to stop or change what you are doing. The purpose of registration is to create transparency of foreign influence activities for members of the public and the Australian government, which supports our democracy. 

Types of registrable activities

  • Parliamentary lobbying (seeking to influence members of parliament or their staffers) undertaken in Australia on behalf of a foreign principal for the purpose of political or governmental influence
  • General political lobbying (seeking to influence a public official, Commonwealth agency, federal election candidate, registered political party or political campaigner) undertaken in Australia on behalf of any foreign principal, for the purpose of political or governmental influence 
  • Communications activity (any information or material that is shared, published or made available to the public e.g. a social media post, journal article) undertaken in Australia on behalf of any foreign principal, for the purpose of political or governmental influence
  • Disbursement activity (payment of money and things of value, including gifts and donations) undertaken in Australia on behalf of any foreign principal, for the purpose of political or governmental influence.

Key concepts

Key concepts
 

Foreign principal

A foreign principal is any of the following:

  • foreign government 

  • foreign political organisation 

  • foreign government related entity

  • foreign government related individual 

Examples of foreign principals

  • A foreign embassy, consulate or ministry
  • A foreign political party
  • An organisation that exists primarily to pursue political objectives
  • A company whose major shareholder is a foreign government
  • An organisation substantially controlled by a foreign government 
  • An individual who may be obliged to act in accordance with another foreign principal

Acting on behalf of a foreign principal

Acting on behalf of a foreign principal 

To act on behalf of a foreign principal means to act in any of the following circumstances: 

  • under an arrangement with the foreign principal (whether formal, informal, written or verbal)
  • in the service of the foreign principal
  • on the order or at the request of the foreign principal

  • under the direction of the foreign principal.

     

Examples of acting on behalf of a foreign principal

  • Where a foreign principal provides guidance to an organisation on how to carry out their work or has oversight of their work
  • Where an organisation enters into an informal, verbal agreement with the foreign principal to undertake a particular activity
  • Where an organisation does work for the foreign principal, where both the organisation and foreign principal intended or expected them to do so

For the purpose of political or governmental influence

Certain activities undertaken in Australia on behalf of a foreign principal are only registrable if they are undertaken for the purpose of political or governmental influence. This happens when a substantial purpose of the activity is to influence any of the following processes in relation to:

  • a federal election, referendum, vote or survey

  • a federal government decision

  • proceedings of a House of the Parliament

  • a political party registered on the Australian Electoral Commission’s Register of Political Parties (which includes federal political parties, as well as some of their state divisions and branches) 

  • a member of the Parliament who is not a member of a registered political party 

  • a person or entity registered as a political campaigner under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.

It also includes when a substantial purpose of the activity is to influence the public or a section of the public about any of those processes.

Examples of activities undertaken for the purpose of political or governmental influence

Examples of activities undertaken for the purpose of political or governmental influence

  • Advocating for your community’s interests to influence federal government decisions or policies, such as by distributing pamphlets or issuing public statements advocating for or against a federal government policy or decision
  • Organising an event or rally advocating for or against a federal government policy or decision, or intended to influence other citizens’ votes at a federal election or referendum 
  • Meeting with a registered political party or candidate, to influence their policies on a matter of public concern or their relationship with a foreign principal

You do not need to register political and government activities if you are not undertaking them on behalf of a foreign principal.

Foreign influence is different from foreign interference

Foreign influence is different from foreign interference

Foreign interference is activities carried out by, on behalf of, directed or funded by, or undertaken in active collaboration with a foreign principal and involves a threat to a person, or is clandestine or deceptive and detrimental to Australia’s interests. Foreign interference is a criminal offence punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment. 

For more information about Australia’s approach to countering foreign interference, please visit the Department of Home Affairs Countering foreign interference webpage.

Exemptions

You might be exempt from registering under the FITS even if you undertake activities on behalf of a foreign principal. Some examples of exemptions include:

  • activities that primarily relate to providing humanitarian aid or assistance
  • religious activities undertaken in good faith
  • activities that primarily relate to the artistic purpose of an entity whose purpose relates primarily to the arts, provided it is transparent that the activity is on behalf of a foreign principal
  • a registered charity’s activities which are undertaken to achieve their charitable purpose, provided it is not a disbursement activity and it is transparent that the activity is on behalf of a foreign principal.

Visit registration exemptions on the department’s website for a full list of exemptions and their criteria. 

How to register 

Registering is done online at transparency.ag.gov.au/myregistration.

To create an account for your organisation you need to provide your name, contact details and occupation as well as details about:

  • the foreign principal
  • the arrangement that you have with them
  • details of the activity that you are undertaking on their behalf. 

This account will allow you to register each activity that is covered by the FITS, along with any associated arrangements with a foreign principal. 

We then publish information about those activities on the public Transparency Register to provide transparency about those foreign interests.

If your community organisation is a foreign principal 

If your community organisation is itself a foreign principal under the FITS – for example, a foreign government related entity - please notify those you work with so they are aware of any potential registration obligations they may have when acting on your behalf or in an arrangement with your organisation. For example:

  • If you are a foreign principal and you enter an arrangement with another organisation to petition together against a federal government policy, then that other organisation may need to register this arrangement 
  • If you are a foreign principal and you direct another organisation or individual to post a statement on their social media encouraging their followers to vote for a particular political party in a federal election, then that organisation or individual may need to register that they did so on your behalf.

If you are a foreign principal and you request an executive member of your organisation to host, in their personal capacity, a rally advocating for or against a federal government policy or decision, then that individual may need to register that they organised the rally on your behalf.

Find out more on the department’s website about how to determine whether your community organisation is a foreign principal.

Further questions

More information about the FITS is available on the Attorney-General’s Department website.

If you have any questions about the FITS or how to register, please email transparency@ag.gov.au or call 02 6141 3222.

Related links

Factsheet 1 – Information for university students and student associations
Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme resources