The Australian Government has introduced the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme to provide the public and government decision-makers with visibility of the nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia's government and political process.

The scheme introduces registration obligations for persons and entities who have arrangements with, and undertake certain activities on behalf of, foreign principals. Whether a person or entity is required to register will depend on who the foreign principal is, the nature of the activities undertaken, the purpose for which the activities are undertaken, and in some cases, whether the person has held a senior public position in Australia.

ASPI and the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme

• ASPI will register projects under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme as necessary.
• The scheme is a valuable way for organisations and individuals to provide public information about their work sponsored by foreign principals as set out in the Act.
• ASPI provides high levels of transparency about its funding sources and relationships in its Annual Reports, which are tabled annually in the Australian Parliament and meet the reporting requirements of the Commonwealth’s Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act, which also governs Commonwealth departments and agencies.
• The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme complements ASPI’s existing disclosure and reporting methods.
• As with all of ASPI’s work, ASPI retains independent control over the content and direction of all foreign funded or sponsored work. This is made clear in the agreements with each principal.
• This is essential both to comply with with ASPI’s Charter, which requires ASPI to provide independent analysis and advice, and to protect ASPI’s reputation for independence in it's research and comment.

For more information, please see the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme site.