As the federal government tightens rules on lobbyists and others that may affect the next election, foreign agents will be forced to open their activities under the new system within weeks.
The Morrison administration will launch the plan on December 10, and security agencies warn that Australia is "vulnerable" to foreign interference in the US presidential election two years ago.
Attorney General Porter (Christian Porter) will submit new legislation to Congress within the next two weeks to ensure that a new system is in place before federal elections to shorten the "grace period" for those who act for foreign governments.
Porter said the new powers were strong enough to allow security agencies to act against any interference during the campaign, so they could sue without requiring ministers to make a decision in a caretaker government model.
"if we see what happened in Australia during the last presidential election in the United States, you can always use all the legislative tools to prosecute and quickly control it when it does." Porter said.
"in this case, the decision to prosecute does not require the consent of the political party-it is decided by the agency that provides information to the Federal Attorney-General."
"it will soon come true."
The Foreign influence Transparency Program requires those representing foreign powers to publicly register their activities in Australia, similar to existing lobbyist registrations.
Those who do not do so will be sanctioned, including the most serious crimes, which will be sentenced to up to five years in prison, the most serious of which is the false claim that they are immune to the scheme.
The law requires disclosure of companies in which foreign governments or political parties own 15 percent of their shares, have 15 percent of voting rights or appoint at least 20 percent of their directors.
In addition, the Attorney General has the right to require registration of any company or individual, whether or not they wish.
Written notice to companies or individuals will take effect immediately without the need for procedural fairness. However, companies or individuals may appeal to the Administrative Court of Appeal.
The Anti-espionage and Foreign intervention Act, which has been enacted alone this year, imposes fines on those who carry out secret, fraudulent or threatening acts in Australia on behalf of foreign governments.
Under the anti-foreign interference regime, the Office of the Minister of Justice may take action against those who do not disclose their activities on the Register. (ASIO), the Australian security intelligence organization, will refer foreign interference to the Public Prosecutor`s Office.
"We obviously won`t be involved in national security, but the suggestion is that without such a law, we would be particularly vulnerable to the kind of interference we saw in the 2016 U.S. election." Porter said.
Porter said Australia was "far from immune" to the U.S. experience, but he could not predict how many entities and individuals would need to register.
While many multinationals are government-independent, companies from China and parts of the Middle East are linked to state-owned enterprises or state institutions.
People representing foreign forces will have three months to register from December 10, but that could change if the government holds early elections.
Once the government announces federal elections, people have only seven days to complete registration.
In addition, the new relationship also applies to different timetables. If someone starts to represent foreign forces after December 10, it will have to be registered within 48 hours.
Media reports say fake Russian social media accounts are active not only in the U. S. election, but also in Australian gay marriage debates.
These false accounts are usually Internet Water Army, and extremist political groups that specialize in supporting the United States, such as those promoting black power and white supremacists, are also ambushed in both camps of the matrimonial equality movement.
