Australian foreign influence register ‘focused almost exclusively on China with little success’, committee finds

The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security says the government should make ‘substantial’ changes to its foreign influence register. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

An Australian government scheme to bring foreign influence out of the shadows has “significant flaws” and enforcement has “focused almost exclusively on China with little success”, an inquiry has found.

In a damning report published on Wednesday, a powerful parliamentary committee said the scheme had achieved “such meagre results that it would be difficult to justify the ongoing compliance burden and resources without major reform”.