You might be forgiven for thinking that foreign interference was yesterday’s news.
In 2021, when the Parliamentary Joint Committee for Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) delivered its report into national security risks affecting the higher education sector, there was a rush of public interest reporting. Universities were told to “harden” their posture against foreign interference and espionage. International students were advised and supported to report allegations of intimidation by foreign actors, whether posing as debt collectors, corruption hunters or even officers from foreign police stations. The PJCIS even recommended the government exercise its “veto powers” to negate an agreement between Monash University and COMAC, an aerospace company part owned by the Chinese military.
Did you know the Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator – the sole individual charged with “coordinating Australia’s whole-of-government efforts to respond to acts of foreign interference” – has been in place since 2018, and even changed hands in July this year? Even a call for a “campaign of active transparency” by the University Foreign Interference Taskforce has been met…
