Summary

National Security Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Act 2018 (Cth) - Level 2

In June 2018, the Australian Government introduced the National Security Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Act 2018 (EFI Act) to combat the growing challenge of foreign interference.

The EFI Act amended existing offences in the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) and introduced espionage-related offences. Some of the actions it criminalised include:
- covert and deceptive or threatening activities by persons intending to interfere with Australia’s democratic systems and processes
- supporting the intelligence activities of a foreign government.

Espionage:
* means dealing with information and communicating it to a foreign government. This can cause harm to Australia's national interests, advance a foreign country's national interests, or both.
* can involve defence, political, foreign relations or other security-classified information. It can also involve industrial or commercial information that affects Australia's national security.

Foreign interference:
* is an activity carried out by or on behalf of a foreign government. The activity may be coercive, threatening, deceptive or clandestine. It undermines Australia's sovereignty, values and national interests.
* Foreign interference activity may be used to:
- influence a political or government process
- influence the exercise of an Australian democratic or political right
- support the intelligence activities of a foreign government
- prejudice our national security.

* To be a crime under the Criminal Code Act, foreign interference must be linked to a foreign government or its proxy (also known as a foreign actor).
* The secretive nature of foreign interference makes it difficult to detect. Any harm to Australia may not be apparent for many years.

Relevant Compliance Frameworks

Legislation, Standards and Codes may be linked to one or more of the University's compliance frameworks either as the driver of the requirements, or as a component of the framework.

The relevant frameworks are listed below.