China is carrying out ‘blatant’ influence operations in Australia, Malcolm Turnbull says

Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd have both been required to register under the foreign influence transparency scheme. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Australian security agencies know China is carrying out “blatant” influence operations despite the lack of listings on the country’s transparency register, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has told an inquiry.

Turnbull said on Tuesday he was “puzzled” the legislation his government introduced was not more rigorously enforced and that officials should not treat it as a “robotic box-ticking exercise”.