Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 8:49:00 to 8:57:35
The department provides updates on the University Foreign Interference Taskforce (UFIT) and engagement with Five Eyes partners on research security and national risks.
Topics: National security, Education, China trade
Speakers: Speaker 35, Senator Matt O'Sullivan, Mr Simon Moore, Ms. Jasmina Joldic, Mr. Tony Cook, Interjection
>> Yes. So one part of that is strengthening the threshold standards which is the way of regulating the sector. The other part of the work that we are doing is um working with our colleagues in home affairs to strengthen new fit which is I'm just going to make sure that I have the uh acronym right university born interference task force. Um this is a main forum that brings the sector uh representatives together with government agencies to strengthen um to strengthen visibility and coordination around uh research security. So that forum is currently being refreshed and looked at as a response to um to the issues that we have we have seen. I might ask my colleague Mr. Moore to elaborate if there's anything else you would like to add.
>> Thanks very much and and thanks Senator. Um over the last 6 to 12 months it's been it's been a really active space. Um >> I don't think there's been so much movement from a regulatory and legislative perspect um perspective ever in terms of research security, national security with uh with regards to the higher higher education sector, research sector um as well as the work with UIT which is a collaborative mechanism with the with the with the sector with the secretary and and Miss Yldich has mentioned um the work that is happening now with updating the threshold standards. There's also other pieces of legislation that sit across the Commonwealth and regulation including recent updates in August to the foreign foreign relations act for the foreign arrangement scheme um and a trench of reforms for the Saki act which comes under home affairs as well too. I think um on top of that it's really worth pointing out in terms of what we've done since then there wouldn't be a day and just talking about from the department of education's perspective that my team doesn't work with universities uh across the spectrum. There wouldn't be a day where I don't speak to a deputy vice chancellor or someone senior from a university. Just before this meeting, I contacted two universities to follow up on research security matters. So, it's a daily occurrence and we're very very active in this space and it's a relatively good story. I I don't want to
interrupt what you're asking, but just so I understand what you're saying. Are you saying that there are ongoing >> issues in relation to these collaborations or
>> research?
>> Not these particular collaborations. It's the issue of research security more broadly, Senator. >> So, we we are providing a lot of information to the sector about it because just because they are heightened about the fact that the government is actually taking this action and so you know they're looking at all sorts of questions that I'm sure they're going to Mr. more about their own policies, the things they should be doing in relation to registers for academics in terms of research security and the things that happen around that. As you know, there's un there's um you guidelines for foreign interference which require universities to keep some of these things. We're also looking to refresh that. But what Mr. Moore's talking about, I think, is the general interaction that we've got based on the heightened attention we've got on research security more broadly. Okay. including conversations he had with five five eyes nations just last week I think around sharing some of that practice internationally as well with our five
>> was there anything you wanted to finish with
>> I was just going to finish with that exact just speaking to five eyes I partners regularly um we're on par with the work being done with our five eyes partners as well
>> and so so since the letters went out uh to to every university Are you aware of any researcher researcher collaboration that's continuing and ongoing that that you that the comwalth is concerned about?
Senator, what I might say at this point is um one of the objectives of the work
that's happening across government um the threshold standards, the work with you um the um the amendments to the foreign relations um scheme is to build the awareness um and capability of universities themselves to identify and manage um national security risks. Part of that um the nature of um research uh is that there is going to be a great deal of international collaboration. The nature of research is that sometimes um timelines for things are very long. And so part of um the engagement that we have with universities as the department of education is around how we can assist them to improve their readiness um and their own capabilities um sharing um best practice sharing resources um both at a sector level but also at an individual level and that's a big part of what the what the team does. But the other thing that we do um uh sometimes work with universities on is to establish that perhaps where instances are raised um to establish uh of collaborations to establish for example something that commonly occurs is that um uh research that has taken place in an earlier period research that has taken place um involving academics um prior to their current institutional affiliations. And so part of the work that we do is um to um to follow up with universities to resolve um issues for um uh re examples of research that um uh may not actually constitute a risk given um the timing or the affiliation.
>> I just want to bring back to my question though which was are you aware of any ongoing collaborations that are of
>> we don't also know every collaboration that exists across every research and researcher in the country.
>> Okay. Um in August the Australian reported that former public service commissioner Peter Walcott was investigating Professor Ben Fama himn 2025 visit to Iran after a after it raised serious concerns about travel approvals and inconsistencies in the professor's account of the trip. the department's to the department's knowledge. What is the status of that investigation? Why did the trip go ahead after the foreign minister's 2023 directive to pause or cease international collaborations with research industries in Iran, Russia, and
that University of Sydney's done. Mr. Walcott reached out to me and had a discussion.
>> Correct. Um so as as the secretary said um this is a University of Sydney um in initiated investigation. Um Professor Walker reached out to us. Uh we've had uh one consultation u I've spoken to him to him on one occasion to outline the expectations that the government has and the processes that we have have in place. Um that was my last conversation with uh with him but I'm just going to check if my team has had any follow-ups
with them as well. Look, and just the only kind of additional follow-up was to assist Mr. Wilcott in terms of providing information about um uh the the department's expectation, government expectations and the resources that were um available for universities um to manage risks in these circumstances. It's for the University of Sydney to resolve.
>> So, what's the status of that investigation? Is it is it as
>> I think you need to ask the University of Sydney for that. They haven't provided us any update on that.
>> In August, the US-based think tank, the China Aerospace Studies Institute, published a paper listing 26 separate interactions between 2015 between Australian institutions and PRC Defense Labs. report listed ongoing collaborations between Australian institutions in relation to antennas and microwave tech, communications and uh anti- communications anti-jamming tech uh composite material tech in special environments and information systems engineering. Are you aware of this report and to your knowledge are these alleged ongoing relationships still
>> Um Senator, we are aware of that report. Um, what I can say, Senator, is that when we become aware of any any research collaboration that involves risk that we do respond appropriately to that, we follow up and we follow up in partnership with other Commonwealth agencies as well.
>> How many of those are ongoing, do you know, long term?
>> In terms of from that particular report, Senator
>> Yes.
>> Um, I don't have those details in front of me in terms of where Commonwealth followup on that particular report is.
Okay. Um, right. Can I go back to this data issue, please?